14 GP practices each receive €1m+ in PCRS payments last year
Gordon Deegan
14 GP practices received over €1m in Primary Care Reimbursement Service (PCRS) payments last year from the HSE as overall PCRS payments to GPs reached almost €1 billion in 2025.
The 2025 PCRS Statistical Analysis of Claims and Payments reports show that GPs received a record payout from the PCRS of €985.9 million, which was a 4pc increase on the €949.23m paid out in 2024.
The total amount paid out by the PCRS last year totalled €4.7 billion, which also includes payments to pharmacists, dentists, optometrists/Ophthalmologists and pharma firms and wholesalers under the High-Tech spend on medicines last year.
The PCRS is responsible for reimbursing GPs, Dentists, Pharmacists, Optometrists/Ophthalmologists and other contractors who provide free or reduced-cost services to the public across a range of primary care schemes.
In response to the release of the annual PRCS statistics report, a spokesman for the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) said on Monday that “the State has not invested adequately in GP infrastructure and needs to act urgently to both enable established practices to take on more GPs and also support newly qualified GPs”.
The report shows that 1.55 million people or 28.44 per cent of the entire population, are eligible for payments from the PCRS through the General Medical Scheme (GMS) card.
GPs received €737.97 million in fees and a further €247.95 million in allowances, while pharmacies received a total of €1.83 billion made up of €1.3 billion in pharmacists' drugs and medicines and a further €520.25 million in ‘pharmacists' fees and stock order mark up’.
The amount paid to dentists increased only marginally from €69.37 million to €69.94 million, while the amount paid to optometrists/ophthalmologists also increased slightly from €26.33 million to €27.28 million.
The amount paid out under the High Tech drug scheme to pharma firms and wholesalers increased from €1.23 billion to €1.3 billion last year.
Figures released separately by the HSE in response to a Freedom of Information request show that GP Dr Austin O’Carroll in the North West Dublin Local Health Office (LHO) area received the highest amount amongst GPs at €1.72 million, with all GPs' totals including a practice support grant.
13 other GP practices received over €1m, and others to feature in the top five include Dr Nick Flynn - €1.19 million (Cork North Lee LHO); Dr Seán Moffatt - €1.16 million (Mayo LHO), Dr George O’Mahony - €1.16 million (Cork - North Lee LHO) and Dr Paula Donnelly - €1.13 million (Longford-Westmeath LHO).
In a statement accompanying the GP figures a spokeswoman for the HSE cautioned that in some cases, the gross provided, which is attached to the name of a particular GP “in fact covers payment made to that GP in respect of a number of GPs and/or other staff working in that particular GP practice and should therefore be seen as income of that practice rather than the personal income of the named individual GP”.
A spokesman for the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) said today: “The annual publication of figures for payments made to GPs once again regrettably fails to provide context around the fact that these figures do not represent salaries for GPs but rather fees associated with both providing the medical services to patients and the exorbitant, and rising, costs associated with running a medical practice.
He said: “Taken in isolation, the figures imply that GPs are directly receiving much more than they actually are – in reality, they represent all the fees paid to deliver a service to patients, including all employment costs, insurance, premises costs e.g., rent, and IT and other essential business overheads.
The spokesman said: “The increase in fees is driven by additional patients and greater complexity of care for some patients as the payments made by the State to GPs for services have not increased for over three years, despite the fact that costs are rising sharply due to the current inflationary environment, which is affecting all aspects of service delivery.
He pointed out: “As such, these figures do not accurately explain the true cost of providing GP services. It is particularly disappointing that names and locations of practices are made available for publication given this complete lack of context, which paints an unrealistic picture of GP fees and no recognition of cost of providing the service or the patient profile of the practice.
He said that the report for 2025 “saw an increase in eligible GMS patient numbers of 56,000 on the previous year, highlighting significantly increased demand for GPs and associated complexity of care, particularly for those patients on hospital waiting lists.
He said: “At the same time, the number of GPs participating in the GMS is fairly static, which primarily reflects the onerous costs of both establishing a practice, and expanding an existing one with more GPs.
The IMO spokesman said: “The State has not invested adequately in GP infrastructure and needs to act urgently to both enable established practices to take on more GPs and also support newly qualified GPs with dedicated supports to help them set up new practices.”
