Laois Offaly TD to lead quizzing of HSE CEO on GP out-of-hours after Midoc debacle

A Laois TD is set to lead scrutiny of how public money is spent on GP out-of-hours care in Laois, the rest of the Midlands and around Ireland when the boss of the HSE and other senior health service managers attend to Dáil to answer questions on health spending.

Laois Offaly TD Brian Stanley is chairperson of the powerful Dáil Committee of Public Accounts (PAC) who meet the HSE on Thursday, February 2 to probe managers on how the Health Service Executive (HSE) spent its money in 2021.

The meeting will be joined by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Seamus McCarthy, and officials from the HSE, led by Stephen Mulvany, Interim CEO and Accounting Officer to the Committee. Officials from the Department of Health will also be in attendance. 

Deputy Stanley said the HSE’s overall expenditure for 2021 was nearly €23bn, an increase of over €2bn or eight per cent when compared with 2020. The key driver for that increased expenditure was the HSE’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This is broken down into current expenditure of €21.6bn and capital expenditure of €1.1bn. At the end of 2021, the HSE had an operating deficit for the year which amounted to €195m.

In early 2023, Dep Stanley said he would proposed that the committee investigate spending on urgent out of hours care delivered by GPs after the decision by GPs in Laois and other Midland counties to pull the plug on a company that provided doctors to Midoc.

While the main questioning will focus on trollies and waiting lists, the Laois Offaly TD said HSE managers would be asked about this will be on the agenda he and other TDs meet

“Members also wish to examine GP services and in particular out of hours GP services," said the Sinn Féin TD.

The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar spoke about the need for a new model of out-of-hours GP care when Dep Stanley raised the issue in the Dáil recently. The Fine Gael leader said the current model is "ad hoc, inconsistent and not cheap".

The HSE confirmed to the Leinster  Express / Laois Live that €8 million was spent on out of hours care in the midlands in 2022 with over €3 million of going to cover the cost of doctors.

'Ad hoc...not cheap...inconsistent' out-of-hours GP care in Laois and elsewhere Taoiseach admits to Laois TD

The PAC is a standing committee of Dáil Éireann that focuses on ensuring public services are run efficiently and achieve value for money.