Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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2070. To ask the Minister for Health to provide details of general practitioners (GPs) in Mullingar, County Westmeath which are accepting new patients; and to provide a list of GPs who will accept a pregnant woman for her antenatal appointments under the HSE maternity scheme. [44586/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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GPs are private practitioners, most of whom hold a GMS contract with the HSE for the provision of GP services without charge to medical card and GP visit card holders.

Where a person 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 Eligibility Unit which has the power to assign a GMS patient to a GP's GMS patient list in accordance with the GMS contract.

Persons 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. As private practitioners, it is a matter for each individual GP to decide whether to accept additional private patients. Accordingly, the HSE does not maintain information on patients on waiting lists for registration with a GP on a private basis.

The HSE website provides a "Find a GP" facility which can assist in finding nearby GP practices, and maintains a public list of GPs who provide services to medical card and GP visit card holders.

Medical services during pregnancy are provided under the Maternity and Infant Scheme. The Maternity and Infant Care Scheme provides an agreed programme of care to expectant mothers ordinarily resident in Ireland. This combined medical service is provided by the family GP and a maternity unit/hospital and includes a schedule of alternating examinations at the GP’s practice and a maternity unit/hospital, as well as two post-natal visits. Where a person does not have a GP, they may contact their local maternity unit directly for an appointment.