GPs are self-employed practitioners and therefore may establish practices at a place of their own choosing. There is no prescribed ratio of GPs to patients, and the State does not regulate the number of GPs that can set up in any area.
Under the GMS scheme, the HSE contracts GPs to provide medical services without charge to medical card and GP visit card holders. Currently there are 2,600 GPs contracted to provide services under the GMS Scheme. A further 637 GPs do not hold a GMS contract but hold some other contract(s) with the HSE for the delivery of health services.
As per the Programme for Government, the Government is committed to increasing the GP workforce. Work is ongoing in this regard, to increase the number of GPs practicing across the country and thereby improve access to GP services for all patients.
Over €340 million in additional annual investment in general practice has been provided under the 2019 and 2023 GP GMS Agreements to, amongst other things, increase payments to GMS GPs and supports for GP practices. The annual intake of doctors into the GP training programme has been increased by approximately 80% from 2019 to 2024, with 350 new entrant training places made available in 2024 and again in 2025. The number of new entrant training places is to increase again this year by 50 places to 400. In addition, recruitment of GPs from abroad is ongoing under the International Medical Graduate (IMG) Rural GP Programme. Under the IMG programme, the placement of GPs is targeted to rural and underserved areas.
The issue of further potential measures to support GP practices is being considered under the Strategic Review of General Practice which is currently underway. The review is examining the broad range of issues affecting general practice including issues related to GP capacity and will consider possible mechanisms to attract GPs to rural and underserved areas.
Under the terms of the GMS and GP Visit Card contract the maximum number of medical card or GP visit card patients that a GP can have on their GMS panel is 2,000, or 2,200 if the GP also holds an under 8 contract, except for in exceptional circumstances where the HSE decides to apply a higher limit. There is no minimum number of patients specified for a panel. The State does not prescribe the number of private patients that may be registered with a GP; this is a matter for individual GP practices.
As of December last, 82 GMS GP panels held over 2,000 GMS patients equating to only approximately 3 percent of total GMS panels.
Where a medical card or GP visit card holder, or a person eligible for either 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.
