Dentists' earnings increased by 36.5 per cent under the General Medical Services last year, reflecting the fact that it was the first year that adult medical card holders had access to a choice-of-dentist scheme.
The increased GMS spending on dental services will continue this year, according to Mr Donal Atkins, secretary general of the Irish Dental Association, because "another cohort of medical card holders will be admitted to the dental treatment scheme during 1998".
The four-phase scheme, introduced in November 1994, provided for the gradual introduction of such groups. The admission of 16-to-35-year-olds to the scheme last year brought total expenditure for the year to £11.8 million, compared to £8.6 million in 1996.
The annual report for 1997 from the General Medical Services (Payments) Board shows an increase of 52.3 per cent in health board spending under the heading, Investments in General Practice, bringing it to £8.44 million.
Such spending is line with the Department of Health and Children's policy of providing financial encouragement at general practice level based on savings on drug prescribing.
This may take the form of grants for computer equipment or pilot projects involving the expansion of community services within a particular practice, physiotherapy, for example, or counselling or dietetics.
The report shows that doctors with GMS panels of more than 1,000 were paid just under £100,000 on average. Payments to 631 doctors with panels of between 500 and 1,000 GMS patients averaged £59,362, and 493 GPs with 500 or fewer earned an average of £21,968.
The average cost per eligible person under the GMS scheme last year was £228, compared with £207 the previous year. Payments by the board increased by more than £55 million for the year. Payments to pharmacists were £23 million up on 1996. There were 1.5 million additional claims for drugs/medicines.
"The most significant influences on the escalating cost of drugs and medicines in 1997 were increases in the number of items, and as in previous years changes in prescribing habits and the trend towards the prescribing of the newer, more expensive products." The overall increase in the cost of drugs and medicines was £13.7 million (up 8 per cent). Overall pharmacy claims were 11 per cent up on last year.