Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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749. To ask the Minister for Health the steps he is taking to ensure that out-of-hours GP services can recruit and retain doctors, including non-EEA locums, to cover the service requirements. [4802/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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GPs contracted under the General Medical Services Scheme are required by their contract to make suitable arrangements to enable contact to be made with them, or a locum or deputy, for emergencies outside of normal practice hours. While there is no obligation on GPs to participate in GP out of hours co-operatives as a means of meeting the contractual requirement, such services facilitate the provision of GP services outside of normal surgery hours and help to spread the burden of this provision.

GP out of hours cooperatives are private organisations. The HSE provides significant funding to support out of hours cooperatives through service level agreements. The HSE maintains regular contact with out of hours service providers to help ensure that the services needed by local communities are provided.

The HSE has provided additional temporary supports to general practice over this busy winter period. The HSE Winter Plan 2022/23 provided an additional €10 million in funding to support GP practices and out-of-hours services in preparation for the increased demand for services. Furthermore, the funding grant arrangement for out-of-hours cooperatives has been increased by 7.5% and additional funding is being provided to cooperatives to enable them to roster additional doctors, local GPs and locum doctors, in treatment centres from 6pm to 10pm.