Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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770. To ask the Minister for Health when a person (details supplied) will access a doctor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31757/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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In the event that a GMS patient changes address and requires to change GP, the patient should submit a completed change of doctor form to the Medical Cards Client Registration Unit, PO Box 11745, Dublin 11. Change of doctor forms are available from all HSE Local Health Offices or from the HSE's website at .

Where a GMS patient experiences difficulty in finding a GP to accept him/her as a patient, the HSE has the power to assign that person to a GP's GMS patient list where the person has unsuccessfully applied to at least three GPs in the area who hold GMS contracts.

People who do not hold a medical card or GP visit card access GP services on a private basis and can make inquiries directly to any GP practice they wish to register with. As private contractors, it is a matter for each individual GP to decide whether to accept additional private patients. In some instances, GP practices have a full list of patients and cannot take on new patients. If this happens, patients should contact other GP practices in their area. While I have no role in relation to such matters, I would expect clinicians to consider the importance of patients having access to a GP service close to home when deciding whether or not to accept private patients.