Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 September 2022
524. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Minister for Health if there are plans to support general practitioners and dentists to begin to accept new patients covered by medical cards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47016/22]
View answerWhile medical card and GP visit card holders that experience difficulty in finding a GP to accept them as a patient can be assigned to a GP's GMS patient list by the HSE, I am aware that general practice workforce issues can impede access to GP services in certain areas. To increase the number of GPs in Ireland, the Government has provided significant further investment and taken steps to make general practice a more attractive career choice.
Under the 2019 GP Agreement additional annual expenditure provided for general practice has to date been increased by €206.6m and is set to increase to €211.6m per annum next year when the Agreement is fully rolled out. This provides for significant increases in capitation fees for participating GMS GPs, and new fees and subsidies for additional services. Improvements to GP’s maternity and paternity leave arrangements, increased rural practice supports and a support for GPs in disadvantaged urban areas, have also been provided for.
The number of GPs entering training has increased steadily over the past number of years, rising from 120 in 2009 to 258 in 2022. The transfer of GP training from the HSE to the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) which was concluded in 2021 will allow for the introduction of a new service model for GP training in Ireland and the further expansion GP training capacity in the years ahead. The ICGP aims to have 350 training places available for new entrants per year by 2026.
The Dental Treatment Services Scheme (DTSS) provides dental care free of charge to medical card holders aged 16 and over. In response to concerns that medical card patients in some parts of the country have been experiencing problems in accessing dental services, I secured an additional €10 million in Budget 2022 to provide for expanded dental health care for medical card holders including the reintroduction of Scale and Polish. To address the concerns of contractors about the Scheme, I am using an estimated €16 million of an underspend in this year’s estimate allocation (€56 million) to award fee increases across a number of items including fillings. The combination of these two measures represents an estimated total additional investment of €26 million in the Scheme this year over and above what was spent on the Scheme in 2021, €40 million.
Following consultation with the Irish Dental Association, these new measures came into effect on 1st May. I would hope that this substantial additional investment in the Scheme will encourage more and more dentists to provide care to medical card patients. The numbers of patients being seen and the numbers of treatments being provided under the DTSS have started to increase in recent months. Patients are also accessing the preventative scale and polish which has been reintroduced, which is a positive development.
