Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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1905. To ask the Minister for Health if a local general practitioner will be assigned to a child (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2370/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Under the GMS scheme, the HSE contracts GPs to provide medical services without charge to medical card and GP visit card holders. Certain groups, including all those under 6 years of age and those over 70 years of age, are automatically entitled to a GP visit card.

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 (or fewer if there are fewer GPs in the area) can apply to the HSE National Medical Card Unit which has the power to assign a GMS patient to a GP's GMS patient list. Likewise, a parent on behalf of a child GMS patient who experiences difficulty in finding a GP that will accept their child as a patient can apply to the HSE National Medical Card Unit also.