Written answers

Tuesday, 6 November 2018

Department of Health

General Practitioner Services Provision

Photo of Fiona O'LoughlinFiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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574. To ask the Minister for Health the reason the under six years of age general practitioner visit card has not been extended to persons under twelve years of age as outlined in Budget 2016. [44988/18]

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware of the cross-party Sláintecare Report published in May 2017 which made recommendations regarding fundamental reform of the Irish health system. The report recommended a decisive shift towards community based care and an expansion of GP services on a phased basis.

The Government approved a Sláintecare Implementation Strategy in July 2018 which provides the framework within which a system-wide reform programme will be advanced. It sets out four over-arching goals and ten high-level strategic actions which will be the key focus for the first three years of the reform programme. At its core, the strategy focuses on establishing the building blocks for a significant shift in the way in which health services are delivered in Ireland including a significant shift to primary care.

One of the key actions in the first three years of reform in primary/community care includes a review of the current eligibility framework to develop a roadmap to achieve universal entitlement, in particular for primary care.This will ensure people can access the care they need as close to home as possible, and will remove cost as a barrier to access.

Decisions on the roll-out of GP visit cards to further cohorts of the population will have regard to the proposal and timelines in the Implementation Strategy.

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