The HSE has just informed me that it does not know how many GPs in any county, or State-wide, are accepting new medical card patients because it does not collect that data. I have been contacted by a number of constituents who have been unable to find a GP in Mayo to take them on. These constituents were only assigned a GP after they contacted the HSE themselves. This comes on the back of the HSE being unable to tell me how many dentists were taking on new medical card patients. Staff in my office called every dentist in the county and discovered that Mayo has no dentist taking on new medical card patients. It was only then that the HSE confirmed that this was a fact. This is a problem that needs to be addressed. We cannot hope to fix the problems that we are not even measuring. The lack of access to GPs and out-of-hours GP services in rural areas is getting worse by the week and the knock-on effect this is having on Mayo University Hospital and other acute hospitals is extremely worrying and is costing lives.

There are two elements. First, the Government is funding out-of-hours services comprehensively and has been doing so for quite a long time now. That was introduced to ease pressure on GPs generally in terms of weekend cover, rostering and so forth. Increasingly, however, there are issues in rural Ireland with access to GP care and the recruitment of GPs to serve. That is an ongoing challenge.

Second, in relation to dentists, there are ongoing negotiations with the association representing dentists in terms of the State sourcing and contracting services. The State has to get value for money for that and an additional €10 million was allocated in the budget to deal with that. It is my understanding that the negotiations are coming to a conclusion but there are discussions to be had. I will get information on the up-to-date position for the Deputy.