What are the Minister's plans for a new GP contract and what is the progress on the strategic review of general practice? I ask this in the context of our growing population, the increasing expectations and demands on our health service, the increasing expense of secondary and tertiary care, and the long-term need to treat patients with less complex problems in the most appropriate setting - namely, a primary care setting - by GPs and supported by full primary care teams.
Sentiment score: 0.67
I thank the Minister for her answer. First, they are private practices but the State has chosen to operate a contract of service-----
Sentiment score: 0.18
-----and that has suited the State well in recent years. The Minister is right that if a GP has a GMS contract, he or she is obliged to be available and provide an out-of-hours service. Many younger GPs are choosing not to sign GMS contracts with the State because of that obligation. I agree 100% with the Minister that we really need to rethink the out-of-hours framework. It may well need to be separate from the GP contract because an increasingly older population of GPs are carrying that out-of-hours burden. We need to rethink premises. We are relying on a private developer model. That has not worked in many rural or inner-city areas where we need State-led, HSE built premises - I would say rent free - to attract GPs to those areas. Finally, we need public salary GPs in some remote rural areas and in deprived urban areas.
Sentiment score: 0.07
I acknowledge the investment of the State in general practitioner services over the past number of years. I think the Minister would recognise that with our growing population - 90,000 a year - the increased expectation and sophistication in what they want from a functioning health service has increased. We are not accelerating the capacity at the rate we are going to have to. We are talking about having 6,000 GPs in 15 years' time in order to meet that demand. We have 4,200 GPs who are registered as GPs but they are not whole-time equivalents. Many of them are in part-time practice. That is just the changing way people and younger doctors work. We need to find a way of getting the full contribution from GP training, in that the State has invested huge amounts of money to get them into general practitioner services in the country, so that it can be sustainable into the future.
Sentiment score: 0.11
I am taking this on behalf of Deputy Byrne but it is something close to my own heart as well. It is to ask the Minister about the Government's strategy to raise awareness of haemochromatosis. Haemochromatosis is a disease that causes iron overload in the body. It is a genetically inherited disease. It is the most prevalent genetic disease in Ireland. One in 20 people will carry part of the gene and one fifth of those will develop full-blown iron overload.
Sentiment score: -0.06
I thank the Minister for that. This is really important. Haemochromatosis was a hidden disease up to maybe 20 years ago. People would appear late in the disease with diabetes and liver failure and die from this condition. Thankfully, there is greater awareness in recent times. It was in my own family. My father had it and it was in his family. It can be managed very well. We need to diagnose it early. We need to be absolutely aware of how common it is. I do not think many people are aware of that. It can be simply treated in primary care. When we talk about capacity in general practitioner surgeries, that is an issue because while the State has a fee for GPs to do the venesection in their surgeries, many do not have the capacity to do so. People with haemochromatosis end up in hospital at some distance from their own homes. It is about raising awareness because it is the most prevalent genetic disease in Ireland. It is called "the Celtic curse".
Sentiment score: 0.08
255. Deputy Martin Daly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the average processing time for vacant property refurbishment grant applications in Roscommon–Galway; the number of applications awaiting decision or payment; and the steps being taken to address delays. [17593/26]
Sentiment score: 0.14