'Door is effectively closed' to medical card patients - Laois politician

Just six extra doctors have been recruited to the medical card scheme in Laois and Offaly since Covid-19 hit, according to a Laois representative who lays the blame squarely on the Government for not ensuring there are enough medics to treat less well off people.

Sinn Féin Senator Maria McCormack commented following recent responses to Sinn Féin’s Parliamentary Questions, which show that, in Laois/Offaly combined, since 2020 there has only been an increase of six General Practitioners with GMS contracts to cover the shortage in the two counties.

Figures supplied to her party show that 74 practices in the two counties treated medical card patients by the end of last year with 15 family doctors practising privately. This contrasts with 68 in 2000 when 11 were outside the system.

The General Medical Services (GMS) scheme is run by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to provide free or low-cost medical, surgical, and GP services to people based on a means test. It entitles holders to free GP care, prescribed drugs and medicines, public hospital services, and emergency care.

The Senator blamed what she said was an acute shortage of General Practice doctors in commuter counties, rural communities and disadvantaged urban areas of Laois and other counties on years of failed workforce and capacity planning by successive governments.

In a separate Parliamentary Question response, the HSE confirmed that 5,775 people from across the country have already contacted its GP Assignment Office in 2026 seeking assistance in finding a GP.

The Laois-based Senator said that many practices are operating at full capacity, are unable to accept new patients and are struggling to provide timely appointments.

Sen McCormack said that the Government must urgently implement a properly funded GP workforce and infrastructure plan, including supports for new practices in rapidly growing areas and succession planning for rural communities.

“Access to a GP is the front door to our health service, but for a growing number of people that door is effectively closed.

“People are ringing practice after practice and being told that patient lists are full. Others are travelling long distances to remain with a GP in the area where they previously lived. Some are delaying care, paying for expensive alternatives or presenting at an emergency department because they have nowhere else to go,” she said.

Sen McCormack referenced analysis of HSE figures obtained by Sinn Féin’s Health Spokesperson, Deputy Cullinane, claiming it shows that while Ireland’s population increased by approximately 10% between 2020 and 2025, the total number of GPs increased by just 6.4%. She said the figures also reveal that the number of publicly contracted GMS GPs increased by only 2.3% over the same period, while the number of non-GMS GPs increased by 26.8%.

“This is not a temporary pressure. It is the consequence of years of Government failure to properly plan the GP workforce and invest in primary care infrastructure. The population has grown rapidly, particularly in commuter counties and expanding towns, but new GP practices and primary care facilities have not kept pace.

“In rural Ireland, many communities are dependent on older, single-handed GPs, with insufficient succession planning for when those doctors retire. The Government cannot keep announcing the expansion of eligibility for GP care without ensuring that there are enough GPs to see patients.

“Sinn Féin set out detailed solutions in our health policy, A Prescription for Change. We proposed a landmark new public GP contract, negotiated with GPs, which would support the expansion and modernisation of general practice, alongside other measures to address this crisis.

“The solutions are available. What has been missing is urgency, political leadership and a properly funded implementation plan.

“Patients should be able to access a GP when they need one, regardless of where they live or how much money they have. That is a basic requirement of a functioning health service, and it must now become an urgent Government priority,” concluded the Senator.