GP fees to be cut by 10% (IMT)

The latest cuts in GP fees will total €48 million over the course of 2011, it has emerged. The reduction amounts to 10 per cent of the fees and allowances paid to GPs in 2008 — the latest year for which figures are available. The cuts were decided this week, following a formal consultation process under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act (FEMPI).

Speaking at a post-Budget briefing on Tuesday, Minister for Health Mary Harney said that doctor fees paid in respect of persons over 70 years old in private nursing homes are to be reduced by 50 per cent. This fee is currently €896 per person and will be reduced to €448. The distance that the patient lives from the GP’s surgery is to be removed as a factor in setting capitation fees.

The fees payable for out-of-hours services will reduce by 22 per cent, the Minister added, and there will be a 5 per cent reduction in respect of employment of practice nurses and secretaries.

The Budget also includes an 8 per cent reduction in fees under the Maternity and Infant Care scheme and an 8 per cent reduction in special items of service (suturing, etc), locum cover and fees under the Health (Amendment) Act, in respect of hepatitis C patients.

Also included in the round of cuts is a 15 per cent reduction in fees for immunisation and Heartwatch (which were not reduced last year due to technical difficulties).

Abolition of the fund for the development of general practice, rostering payments and supplementary practice support grants will save approximately €13 million.

In 2008, doctors’ fees were €338 million and doctors’ allowances totalled €136 million, said Ms Harney. “We need to bring our cost base down closer to that of our European neighbours.”

She added: “We have also made a decision to open up the GMS to those qualified GPs who currently cannot access it. We will bring a further 500 or 600 GPs into the GMS as quickly as possible. That is part of the four-year national recovery plan and is included in the agreement with the EU and the IMF.”

Minister Harney added that she believed the fees to be “reasonable and fair” in the current economic circumstances, where pain was being felt by everybody. “We have to place a very heavy emphasis on reducing the cost of providing services, in order to minimise impact on patients. Notwithstanding the cuts last year, hospital services have increased beyond the HSE service plan.

“We need to continue with efficiency measures, reductions in pay and the recruitment moratorium,” she added.