FOR THE first time ever a GP’s medical practice has received more than €1 million in fees for operating the general medical services scheme.
Official Health Service Executive (HSE) figures, to be published next month, will show that the practice of Dr Catherine Coleman in Dublin received fees of €1.076 million last year. The practice also received €4,810 in grants and allowances, bringing the total to€1.081 million.
The payment details show that 13 practices received more than €500,000 in fees under the general medical services scheme last year.
Over 520 practices received more than €250,000 in fees as well as grants and allowances to subsidise the cost of nurses, secretaries or improved facilities.
The figures do not include State contributions to the pension scheme for doctors.
In 2007, the highest-earning practice received just over €700,000 in fees. Most of the fees paid out under the scheme relate to services provided to patients with medical cards. Payments for services such as immunisations are also included.
Last night the chairman of the Irish Medical Organisation’s general practitioner committee Dr Ronan Boland said that practice expenses had to be deducted from the amounts listed in the official figures.
He said that the typical general practice had overheads of between 40 and 50 per cent. Dr Boland also said that the amounts set out in the official figures may have to pay a number of doctors. “The figures that appear in the GMS report only tell part of the story,” he said.