Vol. 249 No. 11
asked the Minister for Health if, in view of the decision of the Medical Union to reject his final offer, he is now in a position to state that medical card holders in the Eastern Regional Health Board area will have a free choice of doctor as and from 1st April, 1971.
7.
asked the Minister for Health when negotiations first commenced with the medical profession on the method of payment to doctors under the new Health Act; and the number of such meetings.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 7 together.
Negotiations commenced on 26th October, 1967, with the Irish Medical Association and the Medical Union on the reorganisation of the general medical service. Since then there have been at least 30 meetings, eight at ministerial level, the last on 16th July, 1970. Following that meeting my final offer of the scale of fees was sent to the association and the union. This scale was given in reply to a parliamentary question on 29th July, 1970, and is contained in columns 2399 and 2400 of Vol. 248 of the Debates.
I am meeting the council of the Medical Union tomorrow to discuss the implications of the resolutions passed on this matter at their recent annual general meeting. I am not in a position to give a definitive reply to the Deputy's first question until I have met the union and until the result is known next month of the ballot of general practitioners which is being conducted jointly by the Irish Medical Association and the Medical Union.
Would the Minister not agree that agreement on the negotiations, which have gone on for three years, should have been reached long before now in view of the fact that it is the Minister's intention to implement this free choice of doctor scheme by the 1st April next certainly in the Eastern Regional Health Board area? Is it not very late at this 11th hour to have a situation in which there is great possibility of an impasse?
I would not agree with the Deputy's statement at all. Discussions between myself and my predecessors and the Medical Union and the Medical Association have been most amicable and in the main constructive. Quite evidently, as the Deputy will know, there has been a change in the economic circumstances of the country and in the value of money since 1967. There are a great many matters to discuss besides the actual scale of fees, including all the conditions under which the medical profession would operate in the choice of doctor scheme, things going far beyond the question of service fee. I do not regard the negotiations which have taken place as being unnecessary or too prolonged.
Is the Minister in a position to state that the free choice of doctor scheme will definitely come into effect on the 1st April next for the Eastern Regional Health Board area?
I am meeting the Irish Medical Union tomorrow. I prefer to make no further statement beyond what has been published in the press and what I have stated in my reply to the Deputy.
Question No. 8.
May I ask the Minister——
Would the Deputy allow questions to continue? I have allowed two supplementaries on his question. I am calling Question No. 8.
In view of the fact that many people are waiting for years for this free choice of doctor scheme, it is not just a simple matter that can be glossed over.
We cannot debate it now.
May I ask why the Minister just decided to meet one body in view of the fact that they were a joint negotiating team?
There again, I have to negotiate with the Medical Union and the Medical Association, and the association, if they so wish, may send observers to the meeting tomorrow. In fact, it was the Medical Union that passed the resolution at their annual general meeting which could have some effect on the referendum now being conducted. I do not want to prejudice the circumstances in which this meeting took place by saying anything further. There is nothing I have done which suggests that the Medical Association were not participating in the referendum and the negotiations.
I trust the Minister will do everything possible——
Of course.
