The HSE is committed to achieving a decisive shift towards stronger, more integrated Primary Care services and recognizes that General Practitioners are key to the strengthening of Primary Care. To identify opportunities to enhance Primary Care services and inform the negotiation of a new GP Contract, the HSE undertook a series of comprehensive stakeholder engagements between October 2016 and May 2017.

The purpose of the engagements was to understand ‘what matters most’ to those who use and those who provide GP care, and to learn what they would most like to see developed as part of a future GP and Primary Care service. The HSE sought the input of both frequent and occasional GP service users to formulate a rounded understanding of patient needs and priorities. Views of current and future GPs and other healthcare professionals working in or close to Primary Care were also sought to identify priorities for service development in the future. Input was captured from as many categories of healthcare professionals as possible within the timeframe. While it was not possible to engage with all disciplines, this exercise will be repeated in the future.

Combined feedback from over 6,000 people made this one of the largest engagement initiatives undertaken by the HSE. The wealth of data collected from this extensive engagement has resulted in a final report capturing the views of a broad range of stakeholders. This report will be used to inform GP contract negotiations and more broadly to help the HSE to build a better GP and Primary Care service in Ireland.