The Government is close to finalising a €200 million agreement with family doctors which would involve the introduction of new services for medical-card patients with chronic illnesses such as diabetes or cardiovascular conditions. It is understood the proposed agreement would not involve GPs providing additional hours of service for medical card patients. This could involve GPs seeing patients with such illnesses on a set number of occasions per year. However, any such extension of free GP care would not be covered by the proposed new agreement. Three elementsIt is understood that GPs would be free to accept any or all of the three elements of the proposed deal.

Source: The Irish Times April 02, 2019 23:03 UTC