Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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1362. To ask the Minister for Health if she is aware of the shortage of GPs in the County Waterford area; the impact this is having on both medical card and non-medical card patients in accessing GP services; the steps her Department will take to increase the number of general practice capacity in County Waterford; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3537/25]

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 Co. Waterford.

Where a person who holds a medical card or GP visit card experiences difficulty in finding a GP to accept them as a patient, that person, having unsuccessfully applied to at least three GPs in the area (or fewer if there are fewer GPs there), can apply to the HSE Eligibility Unit which has the power to assign a GMS patient to a GP's GMS patient list in accordance with the GMS contract. People who do not hold a medical card or GP visit card access GP services on a private basis and can make enquiries directly to any GP practice they wish to register with.

A number of measures have been taken in recent years to increase the number of GPs practising in the State and thereby improve access to GP services for all patients across the country.

Under the 2019 GP Agreement additional annual expenditure provided for general practice was increased by €211.6m. This provided for significant increases in capitation fees for participating GMS GPs, and new fees for additional services and increased practice supports. The GP Agreement 2023 further increased GP capitation fees, increased the existing subsidy rates for practice staff, and introduced a grant support for additional staff capacity as well a practice staff maternity leave support. These measures make general practice in Ireland a more attractive career choice for doctors.

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.

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.