Free GP care by 2016 'a pipe dream'

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".

Free GP care by 2016 'a pipe dream'

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."

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