GPs earn over €750k from card schemes

A NORTH DUBLIN GP clinic is being paid over three quarters of a million euro a year by the state to treat patients who cannot afford their own costs.

The figure has been revealed in the second part of a detailed analysis of the existing General Medical Services (GMS) contract system by the Irish Patients Association (IPA) provided to the Irish Examiner.

Dr Catherine Coleman, who runs the Berkley Clinic at Phibsboro, Dublin, was paid €767,108 for seeing medical and GP card patients and in practice supports in 2009 — the latest full-year data available.