Free GP Care a “Pipe-Dream”

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The head of the Irish Medical Organisation’s GP Committee Ray Walley has labelled the Government’s plan for free GP care by 2016 a “pipe dream”.
 
His comments come after new research for the Irish Medical Journal suggested medical card holders are twice as likely to go to their GP as non-medical card holders.
 
It found medical card holders visit a GP about eight times a year compared to private patients who make three visits.
 
Walley said that he supports free GP care, but the Government’s strategy is not workable.
 
“It is a pipe dream in the time that he is advocating,” he said.
 
“We’re advocating that you do this over a 10-year period – first with the individuals who most need it, not with a group of individuals under six, whereby there is no evidence out there that they are being disenfranchised.”