Under the General Medical Services (GMS) Contract, provision is made for the payment of subsidies towards the cost of employing practice nurses, secretaries and managers. The current rates of payments are set out in the Health Professionals (Reduction of Payments to General Practitioners) Regulations 2010 (S.I. 638/2010). The current annual nursing subsidy ranges from €31,258.45 for a nurse with 1 year's experience, up to €38,204.77 for a nurse with 4 or more years' experience.
Fees and allowances paid to General Practitioners (GPs) under the General Medical Services Scheme, the Maternity and Infant Care Scheme, the Health (Amendment) Act 1996 (Hepatitis C patients) and the HeartWatch Programme amounted to some €465m in 2010. This includes secretarial/nursing allowances of €80.6m.