Free GP care expansion to bring ‘substantial challenges’, doctors say

The extension of free GP cards to an additional 215,000 people is “too much for general practice at the moment”, medics working in the sector have said.

From Monday, people aged between eight and 69 can apply on the Health Service Executive (HSE) website for a means-tested GP visit card. It is part of a Government drive to bring up to 500,000 more people into the service this year.

Under the change now in force, the weekly base eligibility threshold for a single person living alone increases to €361 from €304.

The threshold for a single person living with a family rises to €322 from €271 and the threshold for a couple with or without dependants rises to €524 from €441.

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[ Free GP care for children aged six and seven from today ]

[ 430,000 to become eligible for GP visit cards in coming months as scheme expands ]

Announcing the change, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said the Government was making “significant steps forward in making healthcare affordable for all”.

However, Dr Denis McCauley, vice-president of the Irish Medical Organisation, said capacity in general practice was currently “very tight” and this expansion would add further pressure to the system.

“The ability to see a GP very quickly is becoming less ... It will be much harder to see your GP this December than it was last December,” he said.

“About 60-70 per cent of people who ring up and want to be seen by a GP are not being seen on the same day. Half of the appointments are taken up the day before. That’s just the unfortunate reality of it right now.”

However, Dr McCauley said the means-tested approach was a “much better approach” than the current age-based system.

“It’s just the sheer quantum of cards that is being handed out is the issue; it is too much for general practice at the moment,” he added.

Dr Diarmuid Quinlan, medical director of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), said the college “warmly welcomes” the expansion of free GP care, adding that Ireland was an “outlier” in Europe due to people having to pay for the service.

[ Free GP visit cards extended to 215,000 people as means-test thresholds rise ]

[ Number of GP training places to be ramped up in bid to tackle ‘workforce and workload crisis’ ]

“While we welcome it, and think it is the right thing to do, we are cognisant of the very substantial challenges it will bring,” Dr Quinlan said.

“We are in the midst of a GP workforce crisis. This will increase demand on an already-stretched service. This will be increasingly evident as we move into winter and patients will find it increasingly difficult to get appointments in a timely manner.”

However, Dr Quinlan said there was good news, with the number of GP training places having increased to 285 this year and being expected to grow to 350 next year, which he said would help alleviate these challenges.