I commend Deputy Rice on tabling this motion. GP care and GP services are an important issue. This motion is about something very simple but also important, namely, that when people need to see a GP, they should be able to see one, and they should not have to worry about whether they can afford it or not. GPs are the backbone of our health service. The GP is the first person most people turn to when they are sick, worried, pregnant, struggling with their mental health or managing a long-term illness. I am a great advocate for our primary care system and GP service. We all know that the family doctor, family GP and family practices we have in this State are really important. They work. They are a person's gateway into the health services. Everybody knows their GP and most people trust their GP. They are the referral pathway on to other services. The problem is that we need more GPs, just as we need more staff in almost every part of the health service. I know from talking to recruits who have come out of training that it is sometimes daunting to be an independent general practitioner and, on occasion, maybe going in and working in a private practice, but working for that practice. The thought of being an entrepreneur, setting up a practice, being an employer, dealing with the bureaucracy, the paperwork, regulations and the HSE is daunting and a real challenge, while GPs are at the same time trying to provide services. That is why the notion of a public GP contract is important and needs to be taken up. We called for this strongly during the election campaign. It was in the health plan that I launched before the election. The current Minister for Health, who was, for a short time, the health spokesperson for Fine Gael, said it was something she would look at. There are vague references to it in the programme for Government, but we need more because this is about choice. It is great if people want to become independent general practitioners. They should be supported and, as I said, I am an advocate for them. For those who want to work in the public system and simply want to be GPs, however, public contracts should be provided. This is all the more relevant when it comes to the cost of GPs. We all signed up to Sláintecare. Most parties signed up to it, not just in principle but because we believed in it, ideologically but also practically, and we know that a barrier is the cost of GP care. I am not so sure the same can be said of the Government when we look at its track record on Sláintecare. In recent times, we have seen what is happening with the elective hospitals, and also with free GP care. The previous Minister for Health announced 400,000 additional GP-only cards. The process was so complicated and convoluted. I do not know if anybody has gone and looked at it. It is almost impossible to say to people whether they are entitled to the card or not. That needs to be simplified because many people who are entitled to a GP-only care do not have one because they are just not aware that they are entitled to it in the first place. That, to me, is crazy, but maybe it is intentional. An awful lot more needs to be done. I raise a local issue that Teachta Conor McGuinness raised recently, namely, the need for a primary care centre in Lismore in County Waterford. Unfortunately, that is back to the drawing board. The preferred bidder, the contractor, pulled out because of the viability of the project, which means it is back at the starting block again. I ask the Minister to take that up with the relevant officials in the HSE. That project now needs to be seriously looked at. I visited the area with Deputy Conor McGuinness a number of times in recent years, and I know how much it is needed for the people of Lismore. There are also healthcare projects in Tallow that need to be funded too. There is a clinic there that has an application for capital funding which still has not been progressed. I could mention many projects in Waterford city too. On the thrust of this motion, many areas of general practice are working well and I am a big believer in the relationship between GPs and community care. All of the supports and additional services now being provided in primary care centres and the chronic disease management teams mentioned in this motion are important and they work. Where things are working, we need to work with GPs so that they can deliver those services. I was dealing with one GP in Waterford city. Five years ago, the HSE told him it wanted more space to provide some of these services. He jumped through every hoop and over every hurdle and to this day, there has not been any finality to that. The bureaucracy is ridiculous and needs to be addressed. I commend again the author of the motion on bringing it forward.

Sentiment score: 0.13