Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 5 July 2023
208. Deputy Michael Collins asked the Minister for Health to explain the discrepancy between the 8,876 combined termination procedure and aftercare claims under the primary care reimbursement scheme in 2022, whilst just 8,156 notifications of termination were officially received in 2022, which amounts to an unaccounted-for €324,000 being paid to abortion-performing doctors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33040/23]
View answerUnder section 20 (1) of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018, a notification of each termination of pregnancy carried out under the legislation must be notified to the Minister for Health within 28 days of it being carried out. Section 20, subsections (3) and (4), require the Minister to prepare a report on the notifications received in a given year not later than 30 June the following year and thereafter to lay it before the Houses of the Oireachtas and arrange for its publication.
Termination of Pregnancy (TOP) services are provided free of charge in line with the 2018 Act. GP provision of TOP services is predominantly via the GP contract where GPs are reimbursed via the Primary Care Reimbursement Scheme (PCRS) for the consultations undertaken with patients in respect of terminations (there are two consultations required to carry out a termination in early pregnancy). The Department has engaged with the PCRS in the HSE to cross-check the total number of TOP claims made against the number of statutory notifications received. Figures received from the HSE indicated that approximately 8,844 second consultation claims were made in 2022. Section 20 of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 provides a narrow statutory framework for the notification to the Minister of terminations of pregnancy and provides for a limited data collection, ensuring protection of the personal information and identity of people accessing termination of pregnancy services – as such cross analysis of different data sets is challenging.
The Department will continue to engage with the HSE, with a view to remind all service providers of their obligations under section 20 of the 2018 Act.
