Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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844. To ask the Minister for Health the amount a general practitioner receives per annum for each category of a general practitioner card; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15710/18]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Under the current General Medical Services (GMS) and GP Visit Card contracts, General Practitioners are reimbursed for a range of services they provide to medical card and GP visit card holders. GPs are remunerated for these services primarily on a capitation basis, with a range of additional support payments and fees for specific items of service.  GPs are also remunerated for services they provide on behalf of the HSE under other public health schemes, such as the Maternity and Infant Care Scheme, Primary Childhood Immunisation Scheme, etc.

The annual capitation rate payable for each person who holds a medical card or GP visit card on a GP's panel vary depending on a patient's age and gender. An annual supplementary out of hours fee is also payable for each patient on a GP's panel. The current capitation rates are set out as follows.

GMS Scheme: Annual Capitation Rates Payable to Gps

Other GP fees payable under the GMS scheme include payments for consultations which take place outside routine surgery hours and fees for certain Special Items of Service provided by GPs (e.g. suturing, ECG tests, nebuliser treatment) which are provided on a fee for service basis. Participating GPs also receive payments under the Diabetes Cycle of Care, the Asthma Cycle of Care for children under 6 and for providing dispensing services to patients in rural areas.

GP allowances available under the GMS scheme include contributions towards the employment of practice staff, contributions towards locum expenses to cover periods of leave, contributions towards medical indemnity insurance premiums and support payments for rural GPs who qualify under the Rural Practice Support Framework.

The HSE also makes a contribution to a superannuation fund for GPs. In 2016, the total superannuation contributions made for all GMS GPs amounted to just over €29 million.

Further detail on the fees and allowances payable to GPs is available on pages 54 - 57 of the PCRS Statistical Analysis of Claims and Payments 2016 Report, which is available at the following website:hse.ie/eng/staff/pcrs/pcrs-publications/pcrs-annual-report-20161.pdf. This report also contains details of the payments made to GPs during 2016, a summary of which is set out as follows.

GMS Scheme: Payments to GPs 2016