Thursday, 9th April 2015
- Department of Health, HSE and Irish Medical Organisation reach agreement on delivery of free GP care for all children aged under-6
Free GP-care for under-6’s will begin this summer. This is another important step towards universal healthcare and follows the recent agreement on free GP care for over-70s. Both will make a real difference to the lives of the youngest and oldest in our society and delivers on the Government’s promise of enhancing primary care.
So from this summer 300,000 children and senior citizens who currently have to pay to see their GP will no longer have to. All children under-6 will benefit from the new enhanced service including age-based preventive checks focused on health and wellbeing and the prevention of disease and for children diagnosed with asthma doctors will carry out an annual review of each child where athsma has been diagnosed.
Before the last General Election Fine Gael was very clear universal healthcare would take time and it is very encouraging to see that we are making progress.