GPS WILL be offered significantly increased fees for looking after certain categories of medical card patients when formal negotiations on a new contract begin, The Irish Timeshas learned.
It is understood that family doctors will be paid at the same rate for all patients over the age of 70, thus ending an inequitable anomaly whereby those qualifying for a medical card for the first time attract fees up to five times more than a person of a similar age who has a long-standing entitlement to free GP care.
In addition, a new GP contract for general medical services (GMS) will offer considerable financial incentives for doctors who choose to work in deprived areas.
Minister for Health Mary Harney told doctors at the weekend she was passionate about addressing the significant manpower and workload issues facing family doctors practising in inner city and other deprived areas in the State.
Talks on a new contract have been stalled for four years, primarily over Competition Authority concerns that trade unions cannot negotiate on behalf of self-employed members.
The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) rejects this view, saying it believes the arrangements for a general practitioner under the GMS contract is one of an employment relationship, meaning the provisions of competition law do not apply.
While there are differences in the legal interpretation of competition law by both sides, a situation openly acknowledged by the Minister in her conference address, it is believed that employers want the pricing elements of a new GP contract to be determined by an independent body.
Meanwhile, it is understood that progress was made on a number of consultant contract issues during a private meeting between the Minister and the IMO on Saturday evening.
Both the IMO and the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) have signalled their hope to be able to put a substantive document to their members for ballot soon.
Earlier, the newly-elected president of the IMO, Galway GP Dr Martin Daly, asked the Minister and senior officials in the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive (HSE) to reflect on the high quality and accessibility of GP services.
"Don't deconstruct (general practice) until you understand the value of what you have, because it could take generations to get it back," he said.
He warned against a complete deregulation of the GMS. "Deregulation won't solve the shortage of GPs in rural and urban deprived areas.
"It will create a clustering of small panels (practices) around affluent urban areas," he said.