The HSE, the Department of Health, the GP representative body and representatives of GPs working in areas of deprivation reached agreement in late 2025 to improve the targeting of the social deprivation grant for GPs which has been available since 2020. The 2019 GP Agreement introduced the grant to support GPs in socially deprived areas to provide additional services. It had been intended that allocation of this grant would be on the basis of a recognised deprivation index used to identify the GPs and practices most impacted by deprivation but work to do this was not possible in 2020 in the context of the Covid pandemic. Grants were therefore allocated in the years 2020 to 2024 on the basis of applications received from GPs. It was agreed, as always intended, that the grant allocation process would use a data analysis approach, based on GEO coding of GP practices and using a recognised deprivation index, in this case Pobal’s HP Deprivation Index which is widely recognised and used. As part of the agreement to improve the targeting of the social deprivation grant, the HSE, my Department, and the GP representative body will carry out a “look back” exercise of the new process before the end of 2026 with a view to ensuring that the new approach has been effective.
