Over €540m paid out to GPs
By Aura McMenamin
Over €540 million in practice expenses was paid by the HSE to GP practices and co-ops for treating medical card patients last year, with three practices in Dublin South West in the top 10.
The practice expenses do not relate to GP salaries, but rather gross payments to doctors for practice expenses, including salaries for other nurses and doctors.
According to the list, obtained by RTÉ under the Freedom of Information Act, the average payment was €186,000 across almost 2,900 GP practices and co-operatives.
Dr Andy Jordan, from the Aylesbury Clinic in Tallaght, was the highest-paid GP. Dr Jordan, who is also the chairman of the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP), received €952,000 in expenses.
Second on the list was Dr Andrew Coady, of Coady Surgery at Old Bawn Way, Tallaght, who received €791,115.
Fifth on the list was Dr William Twomey. Dr Twomey practices at the Aylesbury Clinic and at a clinic on Greenlea Road, Terenure and was listed as a Dublin Southwest GP.
The highest-paid co-operative, with expenses of €3.3 million, was CareDoc in Carlow and Kilkenny.
The Irish Medical Organisation, which represents doctors in Ireland, was critical of the HSE decision to publish the list without context.
Chairman of the IMO GP Committee Padraig McGarry said the publication of the figures was ‘misleading and unhelpful’.
Dr McGarry said: “The figures are gross figures which take no account of the substantial costs incurred by GPs in providing services, including cost of premises, staff, technology, insurance and every other business cost that they are liable for.”
Dr McGarry said that GP services remained under-resourced compared to every other European country and this was having disastrous consequences for other parts of the health services.
The NAGP stressed that these figures do not represent the take-home pay of GPs.
NAGP Chief Executive Chris Goodboy said: “GPs receive, on average, €9 per month for each medical card patient irrespective of whether they attend once or 10 times over that month.
“The reality is that these payments do not cover the cost of that care. The published figures contribute to business costs, the largest of which is staff costs.”
