Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The GMS scheme operates under a choice of doctor principle, meaning that patients who hold a medical or GP visit card have the freedom to choose their GP, or move from one GP to another, provided the new GP is willing to accept the patient to their panel, and that the GP concerned holds a GMS contract.

Patients who wish to change their GMS GP can do so via the “Change of GP form” available from the HSE website.

Where a patient who holds a medical card or GP visit card experiences difficulty in finding a GP to accept them 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 that person to a GP's GMS patient list.