Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 November 2020
333. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Health the position granted to an organisation (details supplied) in negotiating with his Department on behalf of its members as a result of the framework agreement between the two parties on 4 June 2014 as opposed to another organisation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34501/20]
View answerThe agreements which govern the 1972 and 1989 General Medical Service GP contracts were negotiated between the Department of Health and the Irish Medical Organisation. The same agreements prescribe that any amendments to their terms must also be the subject of negotiation and agreement between the same parties.
In 2014 a competition law-compliant Framework Agreement was entered into between the Department of the Health, the HSE and the IMO, setting out in detail the mechanisms which would operate between the parties in relation to current or future publicly-funded GP contracts. Under this Framework Agreement a number of developments have been negotiated, including under-6 GP visit cards, the Diabetes Cycle of Care for adult GMS patients, enhanced supports for rural GPs, and the most recent reforms and modernisations agreed in 2019.
In recent years, another organisation, the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP) sought to be recognised on the same basis as the Irish Medical Organisations for the purposes of general practitioner contractual negotiations. In 2016, the then Minister for Health determined that the NAGP should be afforded a consultative role and arrangements in this regard were facilitated by the Department and the HSE, largely during 2017.
