Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 September 2026
185. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Health If there is any process that would allow the appointment of a GP to carry out house calls to a wheelchair user in Kildare who has extreme difficulty in accessing the local clinic. [69182/26]
View answerGPs are private practitioners, most of whom hold a GMS contract with the HSE for the provision of GP services without charge to medical card and GP visit card holders.
Under the GMS contract, GPs must be available to provide services in their practice premises or by way of home visits, as appropriate, for their medical card and GP visit card patients. They must also make arrangements to enable contact to be made with them, or a locum/deputy, for urgent cases outside of these hours. It is a matter for the GP to decide whether it is appropriate to see the patient in his/her surgery or in the patient's home based on clinical need.
Persons who do not hold a medical card or GP visit card access GP services on a private basis. Services provided outside of the GMS contract are a matter of private contract between the patient and the GP concerned.
It is worth noting that the Government have undertaken measures to increase the number of GPs practising across the country and to thereby improve access to GP services in general. These measures include significant additional investment in general practice under the 2019 and 2023 GP GMS Agreements, successive increases in new entrant GP training places, and the ongoing recruitment of GPs from abroad under the International Medical Graduate (IMG) Rural GP Programme.
