Family doctor visits to be free by 2015

ATTENDING the family doctor will be free from 2015, according to the minister with responsibility for primary care.

Under phase one of the Government’s plan, 56,000 people suffering from a variety of long-term illnesses will receive free GP care from next March. This will be extended to the entire population by 2015, details of which were outlined yesterday by Junior Minister Roisín Shortall.

Addressing the country’s first primary care conference at the Livinghealth primary care clinic in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, Ms Shortall said she was “confident” of meeting the March deadline that would see an end to GP fees for people who avail of the long-term illness scheme but who are not medical card holders.