Shortall anxious over fees for GPs

MINISTER OF State for Primary Care Róisín Shortall expressed strong concerns about the process to set GP fees for the flu vaccine campaign as she was anxious for a decision to be made on the issue, the Department of Health has suggested.

The Irish Timesreported yesterday that in October Ms Shortall had written to Minister for Health James Reilly expressing deep unhappiness at how the issue was being handled. She complained in the email to Dr Reilly that it was unacceptable that she had been excluded from the process of setting fees for GPs for the winter flu vaccine campaign.

In a statement, the Department of Health said Ms Shortall had been “looking for a decision in respect of reducing the fee paid to GPs for administering the winter flu vaccine as the matter had been outstanding for some time, the flu vaccine season was well under way and the State was losing money every week the matter remained outstanding – at a time when the HSE budget was under severe pressure”.

It continued: “Minister Shortall wasn’t proposing a particular fee but felt it was important to initiate the phasing down of fees for GPs to a level similar to the fees paid to pharmacists where a similar service was being delivered, as recommended.”