Government still unclear on extra GP numbers

THE Government still does not know how many extra GPs will be needed to extend free primary care to all within the next four years, it has emerged.

Minister for State for Primary Care Roisín Shortall admitted yesterday that the additional number would be ‘considerable’ but she could not give an exact figure.

She said a study of the additional number of doctors needed would be completed by the end of the year. “The study I have commissioned will give good hard figures in that regard,” she said.