THE GOVERNMENT is to keep in place controversial cuts in professional fees for health sector groups introduced last year and will implement further reductions of about €45 million in payments in the months ahead.
The Department of Health said last night that, following a review of the provisions of financial emergency legislation put in place last year, it had decided that the fee reductions would have to remain in force.
The department said it saved a sum in the region €160 million in the last year as a result of the cuts in professional fees paid to groups such as general practitioners, pharmacists, dentists and psychiatrists.
The Department of Health said that it would now enter into consultations on additional fee reductions of some €45 million.
It proposes to put these reductions in place in the coming months.
The department did not spell out the precise details of the level of the cuts it envisages for each group. The proposed cuts are expected to be aimed at general practitioners operating the medical card, the mother and infant care and the childhood immunisation schemes, as well as for consultant psychiatrists carrying out work at mental health tribunals.
The Department of Health is also to look at further cuts in fees for those involved in the taking of smears under the national cervical screening programme.
This would mainly involve general practitioners and some agencies which work on a contract basis for the Health Service Executive (HSE).
The Department of Health said that pharmacists would be excluded from further cutbacks in fees this year, while there would be “marginal changes” for groups such as dentists and optometrists
Under the cuts introduced last year, most professional groups providing services in the health sector saw their fees reduced by about 8 per cent – a move which generated some €160 million in savings.
Separately yesterday, Minister for Health Mary Harney decided that the cuts which were introduced last year under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) Act would stay in place. Under the legislation, the Minister had to complete a review of the arrangements by the end of June.
Various trade unions and professional bodies had sought a restoration of original fee rates as part of the FEMPI review.
In its submission to the review of the legislation, the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) said that GPs have had to reduce the level of services provided as a result of fee reductions introduced by the Government last year, and that further restrictions could be on the cards if more cuts were imposed.
It signalled that waiting lists for GP services could emerge.
It further signalled that family doctors might have to stop providing some services currently made available on a pro-bono basis for medical card patients.
The IMO said that since January 2009, doctors’ income from the general medical services scheme had been cut by more than €76 million.
This was a result of the 8 per cent reduction in professional fees and allowances, and the introduction of a single capitation rate for treating patients over the age of 70.
The Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU), the representative body for pharmacists, said in its submission to the Minister for Health and Children that 1,600 jobs had been lost in the wake of the cuts in fees and allowances and that patient services had been curtailed.
The IPU said that, in the light of the impact of the cuts on employment and patient care, it wanted the reimbursement of some of this funding for pharmacies.
The union also said that pharmacists would lose between €144 million and €166 million in a full year as a result of the cuts that were imposed by the Government last year.