A review by the Health Service Executive of GP out of hours facilities has identified a number of regions in the country without services.
The report makes 13 recommendations to improve the service.
A key recommendation is that the serviceshould would be extended to cover parts of the country where there is currently no out of hours provision, such as Dundalk, Limerick, Sligo, Tullamore, Tallaght, Moate and Edenderry.
There are 247 non-participating GPs, the report found. The HSE said each region should contact these GPs to ensure full out of hours coverage nationally.
The report also calls for the introduction of nurse telephoning triaging in all services. This would allow patients who call the service to speak with or receive a call back from a nurse to discuss their condition, get advice and decide if they need to be seen by the GP.
The report found that there were almost one million visits to the services in 2008 and patient satisfaction rating was at 90 per cent.