Thomas Gould
Question:227. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Health when the review into GP services will conclude; and if the HSE will retender the SLA for Cork out of hours service on its conclusion. [28231/26]
View answerTuesday, 21 April 2026
Questions (227)
Written answers
The Department of Health with support from the HSE is currently undertaking a Strategic Review of General Practice. Significant progress has been made under the review, and the review is to be completed this year. Following its completion, a report will be presented to me outlining the findings of the review and setting out recommended actions for a more sustainable general practice into the future.
The review is examining the range of issues affecting general practice, focused around five themes: GP Training, GP Capacity, the eHealth Agenda, Out of Hours Reform, and the Support Model for General Practice.
GPs contracted under the GMS scheme are required by their contract to make suitable arrangements to enable contact to be made with them for urgent GP care outside of normal practice hours. Most GPs participate in GP out of hours co-operatives as a means of meeting this contractual requirement.
Although the HSE provides funding to support out of hours co-operative services through service level agreements (SLAs), GP out of hours co-operatives are private organisations. South-West Doctor-on-Call Limited, known as SouthDoc, provides out of hours GP services for Counties Cork and Kerry.
Out of hours services are a function of the GP GMS contract, ensuring an effective and integrated service approach across daytime and out of hours GP services. The strategic review will provide an assessment of the challenges affecting general practice and will make recommendations for a more sustainable general practice model, including in relation to out of hours GP services, as part of a primary care focused health service and in line with the Sláintecare vision on access. Following the completion of the review and the report being presented to me, the report will be subsequently published.