Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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753. To ask the Minister for Health the options available to a person with underlying health conditions who has returned to Tralee, County Kerry, but cannot get a general practitioner to take him or her on, as no GP in the area is taking on new patients due to Covid-19; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44650/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Where a GMS patient experiences difficulty in finding a GP to accept him/her as a patient, the person concerned having unsuccessfully applied to at least three GPs in the area can apply to the HSE National Medical Card Unit which has the power to assign that person to a GP's GMS patient list.

People who do not hold a medical card or GP visit card access GP services on a private basis and can make enquiries 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.

While there is currently exceptional demand for GP services in the context of Covid-19, GPs continue to see patients for non-Covid related services where necessary, albeit with infection-control measures in place. Nurse and doctor advice is provided over the phone where appropriate, and only patients who are clinically assessed as requiring a face to face consultation with a doctor are referred for an appointment.

The Government is aware of the underlying workforce issues currently facing general practice, including the limited access to GP services in certain areas, and has implemented a number of measures to improve recruitment and retention in general practice. These measures will help make general practice a more attractive career option for doctors and will increase the number of doctors in general practice, improving long-term access to GP services for patients throughout the country.