Written answers
Monday, 9 September 2024
Department of Health
General Practitioner Services
Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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1713.To ask the Minister for Health if it is standard practice for GP out-of-hours services to refuse to engage with patients who are not registered with a GP located within a geographical area; if he will propose measures to address this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter.[34410/24]
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 their patients to contact 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. Only a small number of areas are not covered by GP out of hours co-operatives, instead out of hours services are provided by local GPs.
GP out of hours cooperatives are private organisations. The HSE provides significant funding to support out of hours co-operative services through service level agreements.
As the provision of out of hour GP services is a service, I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
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