Vol. 514 No. 5
168 Mr. Stanton asked the Minister for Health and Children the guidelines, if any, he has issued to assist general practitioners and health boards when dealing with demanding and abusive patients under the medical card scheme; the conditions under which a doctor can refuse to accept these patients; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4774/00]
Health boards are required to provide general practitioner services to all medical card patients and such services are provided by doctors holding general medical services scheme contracts. The contract sets out both the conditions under which services are to be provided to medical card holders and the relationship between the board and the contracted doctor in terms of accepting and assigning patients.
The contract provides that in a situation where a general practitioner does not wish to accept a particular patient he or she can be requested by the board to provide, confidentially, the reasons for his or her unwillingness. Ultimately, however, the board has, under the contract, the power to assign patients to ensure their medical needs are met. Where assignment takes place, there is provision for such assignment to be reviewed at the doctor's request after a six months' period.
