Bernard Allen
Question:266 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children the steps which have been taken to reduce the work load of general practitioners. [13528/01]
Written Answers - General Practice.
Under the GMS scheme, participating doctors are required, as per their contract, to be routinely available for consultation for a total of 40 hours per week on five days or more by agreement with the health board. The contracted doctor is also required to make suitable arrangements to enable contact to be made with him or her or a locum or deputy outside normal hours for urgent cases. Traditionally, this has been realised through rota, deputy or bureau arrangements between doctors which are usually organised by the individual contracted general practitioners on a mutually agreed local basis.
However, the development in recent years of co-operatives in general practice to deal specifically with the area of providing an optimum and accessible out of hours service for patients, such as the two currently running on a pilot basis in the North-Eastern and South-Eastern Health Boards, gives the opportunity to apply a structure to the provision of such appropriate care. It remains, however, a highly effective rota system that is supported by public funding where doctors are allowed to best plan their involvement. Support for the participating doctors in the co-operatives is also provided by the employment of drivers in specially equipped cars and nurses at the various centres who give back up support and assistance to the doctor. This type of initiative, in addition to improving the quality of service to patients, also serves to reduce the work load of general practitioners.
In addition, my Department is about to commence discussions with all interested parties on a wide-ranging review of general practice which will, in particular, consider the overall workload of general practitioners.