Surgery visits: The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has accused the Minister for Health Mary Harney of demonising GPs over recent moves to re-examine whether doctors should display price lists for private patient consultations.
Dr Martin Daly, chairman of the IMO's general practitioners' committee, accused the Minister of electioneering, following the announcement that she had asked the Department of Enterprise to once again assess whether State agencies dealing with consumer protection had a role to play in relation to charges set by GPs for private patient consultations. While many GP practices display the cost of a consultation in their surgeries, there is no legal requirement for them to do so.
Dr Daly said Ms Harney was adopting a populist stance by questioning the value of the services offered by GPs. He said that while GPs were an easy target, repeated surveys had shown that the State's general practice service was "exceptionally good value for money". "Mary Harney is a politician who is coming into an general election cycle," Dr Daly said. "It is indeed the populist stance to take to denigrate and demonise GPs as a grouping and question the value of their service.
"I would suggest that it would be far more in the interest of the State and the health of the nation for politicians to seek ways of supporting a strong and vibrant GP service."
Last month, Ms Harney told the Dáil she had written to the Minister for Enterprise and Employment Micheál Martin to ascertain if the Competition Authority or the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs (ODCA) had a part to play concerning GPs' private fees.
She was responding to queries from Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte, who said that some GPs in Dublin had recently increased their fees for private consultations from €40 to €50.
The Director of Consumer Affairs Carmel Foley, who had sought the ministerial order compelling GPs to display price lists in their surgeries nearly two years ago, welcomed Ms Harney's announcement and expressed her hope that the fresh impetus would lead to the order's implementation.
In late 2003, Ms Foley asked Ms Harney, who was then the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, to make an order under the Consumer Information Act requiring doctors, dentists and allied health professionals to display their prices.
Ms Harney expressed her optimism that such an order could be achieved within weeks, but last December the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mr Martin dropped the idea "for legal and practical reasons".
Neither the IMO nor the Irish Dental Association was opposed in principle to the price order but did point towards logistical difficulties. Dr Daly said the Department decided not to proceed because "they felt that it was, in their view, impractical and unenforceable".
One reason given for the failure to implement the order was concerns over "a very real risk of increasing charges to the consumer", a senior official wrote in a memo to an assistant secretary in the Department last October.
Ms Foley said it would be appalling if price lists led to increased fees. "You are paying them for a consultation and if you have three ailments or one surely you're paying for a single consultation."
Curing the rising costs of GP visits: page 5
