Free GP Visits Could Be On The Cards For The Entire Country In The Near Future

A draft version of a report that recommends free GP care for everyone in Ireland is due to be published next month.

Breaking News.ie says that the report was leaked by the Oireachtas Committee on the Future of Healthcare, and outlines plans for the free healthcare to be introduced within five years.

The report also calls for new legislation that would ensure A&E waiting times are no longer than four hours, and also that there is a wait no longer than 12 weeks for patients in need of an operation.

It says that Irish hospitals could be fined if they do not meet the new targets.

Social Democrats TD Róisín Shortall said in Breaking News that the report shows a ten-year plan which aims to survive government changes.

"There's a special committee of the Dáil and we've been working away for the last ten months on devising a plan for changing the Irish health system", she said.

"We want to stop health being a political football and we want to move towards a situation where we can have agreement on having a really good quality public health service, similar to what exists in most other European countries."

This would be SO amazing if it went through.