Minister for Health Mary Harney has signalled that a controversial age ban on doctors over 70 holding contracts to work in the medical card scheme may be lifted as part of a new review.
Ms Harney told the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children that the current stipulation that doctors in the general medical service scheme must retire at the age of 70 would be addressed by the Health Service Executive (HSE) in the context of a new contract for GPs which is being planned.
Under existing arrangements, GPs reaching the age of 70 can no longer hold a contract to work in the medical card scheme although they can act as locums and continue with their private practice.
Fianna Fáil senator Mary White, who raised the issue with the Minister, said the current arrangements represented age discrimination.
Ms Harney said the senator "had raised an interesting issue in the context of the new contracts of employment and the treatment by GPs of GMS patients as opposed to private patients".
"I know of a number of clinicians who, while permitted to work as a locum, can no longer operate under the current contract. There is a hang-over in this area in terms of past experience. This issue will be addressed by the HSE in the context of the new contract.
"In my opinion, we have shortages of key manpower in our health system. Clearly, a person's competence and ability to provide a service should determine the age at which he or she ceases provision of the service," she said.
The Minister said the HSE was taking advice on the matter and the issue would be considered in the context of a new contract. "Obviously, it would be my desire that a doctor competent and available to do the job should be permitted to do so," she said.
"A friend of mine who is a doctor and no longer has a GMS practice because he is 71 years old acts as a locum in a practice that has a large GMS population. He also does some private work. We should be in a position to avail of the services of people such as this. It is an issue for the HSE in the context of the contract discussions," the Minister stated.
However, it is unclear at present when a new contract for doctors in the GMS will be finalised. Talks between health service management and the Irish Medical Organisation, representing doctors, have taken place on this issue, on and off, for a number of years now.
The negotiations are also affected by the row over the impact of the Competition Act on the State's ability to negotiate fee levels with representative bodies for professional contract staff such as pharmacists, dentists and doctors.