Paul Lawless (Mayo, Aontú)
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1124. To ask the Minister for Health the number of GPs in Westport, County Mayo; if she plans to provide more training places for doctors; and if she will incentivise them to live and work in that area. [2516/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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GPs are self-employed practitioners and therefore may establish practices at a place of their own choosing. There is no prescribed ratio of GPs to patients and the State does not regulate the number of GPs that can set up in a town or community.

Under the GMS scheme, the HSE contracts GPs to provide medical services without charge to medical card and GP visit card holders. Currently there are 2,539 GPs contracted to provide services under the GMS Scheme. Where a vacancy arises in a practice with a GMS contract, the HSE becomes actively involved in the recruitment process to find a replacement GP. As of the start of the January, there are no GMS vacancies in Westport.

A number of measures have been taken in recent years to increase the number of GPs practicing in the State and thereby improve access to GP services for all patients across the country. These measures help to make general practice in Ireland a more attractive career choice for doctors, and the positive impact of is being seen in the increased number of doctors both applying for and undertaking GP training.

Under the 2019 GP Agreement additional annual expenditure provided for general practice has been increased now by €211.6m. This provides for significant increases in capitation fees for participating GMS GPs, and new fees and subsidies for additional services. Improvements to GP’s maternity and paternity leave arrangements and a support for GPs in disadvantaged urban areas, have also been provided for. In addition, the pre-existing enhanced supports package for rural GP practices was increased by 10%.

The GP Agreement 2023, which provided for the expansions of GP care without charges to those who earn up to the median household income and to children aged 6 & 7, includes additional capacity supports to enable the expansion and retention of staffing within general practice. It includes additional supports for GP Out of Hours services also.

Annual intake to the GP training scheme has been increased by approximately 80% from 2019 to 2024, with 350 new entrant training places made available from 2024. 346 new entrants commenced training last year, a 21% increase on the previous year’s intake of 286. Availability of 350 new entrant GP training places is planned for 2025, and additional funding has been provided to support the increased number of GP trainees in the system this year due to the recent increases in new entrant training places.

Figures released by the ICGP show that 1,311 medical graduates have applied for GP training in 2024, a notable increase on last year and higher than any previous years.

Furthermore, recruitment of GPs from abroad commenced in 2023 under the joint HSE and ICGP International Medical Graduate (IMG) Rural GP Programme. 114 IMG GPs were in practice as of October last and funding has been provided to recruit up to 250 more GPs from outside Ireland to the country this year.

I have asked the HSE to respond to the Deputy directly in relation to the number of GPs in Westport, as soon as possible.