Vol. 471 No. 1
133 Mr. Molloy asked the Minister for Health his views on the practice of allowing general practitioners to sell the goodwill of their general medical services practices to other doctors upon retirement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20478/96]
Limerick East): Under the provisions of section 58 of the Health Act, 1970, health boards have the responsibility for the provision of general practitioner services for persons covered by medical cards. Health boards fulfil this statutory obligation through contractual arrangements with participating general practitioners. The awarding of such contracts is by open competition in the interests of maintaining standards and providing a high quality of services for medical card patients.
The contract between health boards and general practitioners for the provision of services under the general medical services scheme includes a requirement that the contract agreement shall terminate when the doctor reaches 65 years of age and in certain cases 70 years of age. The contract agreement also contains provisions allowing a health board to make the arrangements it considers appropriate, including the award of a new contract following an open competition, for the provision of general practitioner services to the persons on the patient list of a contract holder who is due to retire. Sale by a contractor of a health board contract for the provision of general practitioner services (or any interest therein) does not therefore arise.
