Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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1043. To ask the Minister for Health the extra funding he plans to provide for general practitioner services in 2020 and 2021. [14874/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The agreement reached between the Department of Health, the HSE, and the IMO on GP Contractual Reform and Service Development, finalised in May 2019, provided for phased increases in the rates of capitation and other allowances paid to GPs as well as for the introduction of new services, including the Chronic Disease Management Programme and supports for practices in areas of deprivation.

The additional cost of implementing the Agreement in 2019 was €27.3 million, with an additional €53 million required in 2020, bringing the total available funding for 2020 to over €80 million. A further funding requirement of €62.5 million is foreseen for 2021.

In addition to this, a package of measures to support general practice was introduced from 16 March last in order to take account of the impact of COVID on general practice and to ensure that GPs were in a position to provide essential COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 services. These measures included fees payable from 16 March for the provision of remote consultations, respiratory assessment clinics and extended opening hours. The cost of these supports to date is approximately €60 million and is expected to reach approximately €100 million by mid-August.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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1044. To ask the Minister for Health when he plans to put in a place a new general practitioner contract. [14875/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The existing General Medical Scheme contract has been modernised to a large extent by the agreement reached in 2019 between the Department of Health, the HSE and the IMO on a major package of GP contractual reform and service developments.

The Agreement introduces fees for new services such as the chronic disease management programme and therapeutic phlebotomy for GMS patients with haemochromatosis. It provides for a 10% increase in the rural GP allowance, an increase in the allowance paid to dispensing GPs, and a targeted fund of €2 million to support practices in deprived urban areas. Maternity and paternity leave arrangements have been improved, in recognition of the need to ensure that general practice is compatible with doctors’ family commitments. A wide-ranging set of modernisation measures have also been agreed in the areas such as eHealth and medicines management. In return for cooperation with these service developments and reforms, investment in general practice will increase by approximately 40% (or €210 million) over four years. At the end of 2019 95% GMS GPs (2,374) had accepted the terms of the Agreement.

The Agreement also includes a commitment to undertake a strategic review of GP services within the lifetime of the Agreement, to examine how best to ensure the provision of GP services in Ireland for the future. The outcome of this review will inform future contractual changes. Preparatory work for the review is beginning this year.