Ahead of today’s deadline for family doctors to sign up to free care for under-sixes, Health Minister Leo Varadkar and his junior minister Kathleen Lynch yesterday wrote to GPs to clarify issues around the scheme and tell those who have not signed the contract that it is not too late to do so.

A survey of just over 1,000 GPs commissioned by the National Association of General Practitioners found that just one in five intend signing up for the scheme before the May 27 deadline.