Cost of GP visit for private patients set to rise due to overheads

IMO warning: The cost of visiting a GP for private patients is likely to rise to meet the increasing expense of running a doctor's surgery, a leading member of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has warned.

Dr Martin Daly, chairman of the IMO GP committee, said: "I can see no way in which GP practices can meet the rise in costs and the growth in expectations from the patient and the Government in terms of premises and the service we have to provide without some private fees increasing. Someone has to pay.

"GPs are facing rising staff costs, insurance costs, technology, overheads, everything. GPs need a viable net income. And we have to make that especially attractive for the next generation."

Dr Daly said GPs were anxious to start negotiations on the new GMS contract and had identified purpose-built GP premises as an area "where the Tánaiste needs to consider tax incentives".

He called for a detailed study of the cost of providing primary care before these negotiations start.

His comments come after GMS figures released last week showed GPs were paid €317.5 million for providing care to medical card patients last year.

Dr Daly cautioned against using GMS data to estimate individual GP earnings and said IMO estimated Irish GP earnings at approximately €120,000 per annum before tax.

This would make Irish GPs among the highest paid in Europe, on a par with their colleagues in the UK.

This is based on a recent Euro Barometer study for GP magazine which found GPs in the UK were the best paid following a survey which included France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Ireland was not included.

"When looking at pay it is important to remember doctors in general practice here work a 70-hour week.

"Irish GPs also have a commitment to out-of-hours and night-time working that our UK colleagues do not. They work a nine to five week," said Dr Daly.

"In my surgery we have a combined GMS income of €330,000.

"Out of that, four doctors are paid along with a practice nurse, a practice manager and two practice secretaries. And then we have to pay all the overheads," he said.

"There is only so much time. If a GP has 600 GMS patients, they'll present about seven times a year, requiring 4,200 consultations.

"Seeing patients six hours a day, five days a week; a GP could have 7,000 consultation slots in a year, leaving less than 3,000 for private patients."

The average number of GP consultations in Ireland is "between 30 to 40 per day", according to the IMO - close to the UK average of 47.

Dr Niall O'Cleirigh, spokesman for the Irish College of General Practitioners, said Irish family doctors had "always maintained that the way GMS data is published is unfair because it is a small business income, with all the associated costs.

"It is not money going directly into the doctor's pocket."