Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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845. To ask the Minister for Health if she has plans to extend the chronic disease management programme to include epilepsy; if so, the timeline she is working towards; if not, the rationale for continuing to exclude this condition from the programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25713/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Under the GMS scheme, the HSE contracts GPs to provide medical services without charge to medical card and GP visit card holders. The General Practitioner (GP) Chronic Disease Management (CDM) Programme commenced in 2020 and has been rolled out on a phased basis to adult GMS (Medical Card and GP Visit Card) patients over a 4-year period.

The CDM Programme represents a new approach in Ireland to working with patients to manage their healthcare. It has brought the care for chronic disease further into the community and closer to the patient, and has reduced hospital attendance by patients with one or more of the specified conditions.

The Programme has been expanded to include women who have had Gestational Diabetes, and from July this year will be further expanded to include Chronic Kidney Disease, among other conditions.

Further expansion of the Programme to include additional conditions would require rigorous clinical assessment and engagement with stakeholders, including the GPs delivering the service. Nonetheless, this could be considered in the future in the context of resource availability.