Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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491. To ask the Minister for Health whether he is aware that the HSE has no remit to assist in sourcing GP care for children under 18 years who have no medical or GP-visit card; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49349/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Under the GMS scheme and in line with the relevant provisions of Section 58 of the Health Act, 1970 (as amended), the HSE contracts GPs to provide medical services without charge to medical card and GP visit card holders. Certain groups, including all those under 8 years of age and those over 70 years of age, are automatically entitled to a GP visit card.

Where a GMS patient, a patient that 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 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.

Neither myself or the HSE have any role in assigning patients who do not hold a medical card or a GP visit card to a GP's patient list, as these patients access GP services on a private basis. As private contractors, it is a matter for each individual GP to decide whether to accept additional private patients.