Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 22 January 2026
46. Deputy Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin asked the Minister for Health the number of patients currently without access to a general practitioner in the Wicklow–Wexford area and across the State, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3417/26]
View answerUnder the GMS scheme, the HSE contracts GPs to provide medical services without charge to medical card and GP visit card holders. As of the 1st of January, there are 2,598 GPs contracted to provide services under the GMS Scheme and a further 634 GPs do not hold a GMS contract but hold at least one other contract with the HSE for the provision of health services.
Where a person that holds a medical card or GP visit card experiences difficulty in finding a GP to accept them as a patient, the person concerned having unsuccessfully applied to at least three GPs in the area (or fewer if there are fewer GPs in the area) can apply to the HSE Eligibility Unit which has the power to assign a GMS patient to a GP's GMS patient list in accordance with the GMS contract.
Persons who do not hold a medical card or GP visit card access GP services on a private basis and can make enquiries directly to any GP practice they wish to register with. As private practitioners, it is a matter for each individual GP to decide whether to accept additional private patients.
The HSE website provides a "find a GP" facility which can assist in locating and contacting GP in or around the area concerned.
As GPs are private practitioners, the Department of Health and the HSE do not hold data on the number of persons who are registered as private patients with any particular GP practice.
Several measures have been taken in recent years to increase the number of GPs practicing throughout the country and thereby improve GP access. The measures taken include significantly increasing investment in general practice to improve the attractiveness of working in this sector, increasing the number of GP trainees, and recruiting GPs from abroad under the International Medical Graduate (IMG) Rural GP Programme.
