When the former joint leader of my party Róisín Shortall founded the cross-party initiative that resulted in the Sláintecare report, there was a real sense that the ambition that people hope for but rarely see in the political system, a real effort to deliver a transformative change in healthcare, would be founded on enhanced State capacity and international best practice. While delivering such change might involve shifting timelines, one thing we should never shift is that ambition, which is why the Government's approach to implementing Sláintecare has been so disappointing. There is no sense of ambition in this Government in any area as it continues to rely on models which prioritise eligibility rather than rights and which fail to deliver the change needed in our healthcare system. The plans to introduce free universal GP care seem to have disappeared. This is in spite of it being identified as a core target within five years of the Sláintecare implementation phase. That means we should have had free universal GP care for every person in this country by 2022, four years ago. It is now 2026, and it is not even in the programme for Government. This means that we remain total outliers in a European context, where GP visits are mostly free or cost less than €10. A local GP noted to me this week that the current GP contract was developed in 1972. Since then, while remuneration rates for GP services have adjusted, the terms of service have not, with some areas of care - for example, antenatal care - being deprioritised financially versus others. We need an updated contract that aligns with modern clinical best practice. It is important to acknowledge that we train many more GPs than we did previously, and I welcome the work done in workforce planning. A publicly driven system would also allow for the development of a national locum bank, which would improve working conditions for GPs, ensuring they can take their leave entitlements, including long-term sick leave. The current environment, in which GPs deliver services through small isolated organisations, means the loss of a GP, even temporarily, can have huge effects on the delivery of care locally. I thank my colleague Deputy Pádraig Rice for bringing this motion to the House. I urge the Government to support it.

Sentiment score: 0.26