The Government is committed to ensuring that patients throughout the country continue to have access to GP Services, especially in remote rural areas and also in certain disadvantaged urban areas, and that general practice is sustainable in such areas into the future.
Rural practice is top of the agenda as part of the discussions for the new GP contract currently underway between the Department of Health, the HSE and the Irish Medical Organisation. Options, including enhanced rural practice payments, are being considered by all parties to support and sustain rural practices. As proposals are being considered by the parties as part of ongoing discussions about the GP contract, I am not in a position to comment on the outcome at this stage.