Yes
My terminally Ill farther was charged 45 euro for blood tests every week and 30 if dressings need to be changed i complained and asked to change doc he told me no doctor would take my dad on as he was too ill and would cost them money and when he was dying the doctor refused to do home visit cos he wasn’t paid enough by hse I had to pay a agency doctor who knew nothing about him Gp and consultants need to be taken on if health service is to survive

@ Betty
if I was you I would make a complaint to the HSE and the medical council about your doctor. People only need doctors when they are sick so his belief that no other doctor would take your dad on is disgraceful. The only reason he didnt want your dad to get a new doctor was because your dad was paying 45 – 75 euros per week for services that should be free. He saw your father as an easy target and cash cow. Doctors like him deserve to be struck off and made an example of.

@Betty,
If that truly is the case, you have a case to take to the IMC, as GP’s are there to provide a service.
In the case of home visits, if one is required the GP or the Out-of-hours GP is obliged to carry them out.
In the case of switching Gp’s, again, no choice but to release notes etc, that’s your choice.
There may be more to your story, I don’t know, but it seems incredible that a GP would treat Their patients in such a manner.
If things are as you say though, certainly go to the IMC. You have a case for them.

Michael it was exactly as I describe. The doctor in question explained to me that they only get a flat rate yearly payment to see medical card patients so if you need to see a doctor more you are costing them money when they could be seeing private patients in relation to the home visit he wanted me to bring my dying father into the surgery as he didn’t do home visits when I said he was too weak to walk he said what do you want me to do about it. I did complain to the practice manager and asked to have another doctor in the practice see him she said she understood but the other doctors couldn’t be seen to undermine a senior partner and I could seek another doctor else where but given his health another doctor would be reluctant and would probably tell me their list was full

I would imagine an annual ‘request’ to check for cancer, liver functionality and a general all clear is hardly an incessant request. The GP gets paid a few hundred euro for the year whether you need to attend or not in that year.

The current GMS contract with GPs apparently does not require provision of any routine phlebotomy or monitoring of Warfarin, Diabetes and so on. So if the issue is forced, GPs would be entitled to send these patients on to hospitals for this service. This according to the Irish Medical News.
I agree that it is reasonable to perform checks from time to time for people with certain conditions or on certain medications. And most GPs do this. But there are patients who demand tests that are not indicated clinically. And often these demands are not yearly at all! I reckon a very small percentage of people take up most of the resources and the vast majority utilise very little. Sadly, a lot of that small percentage is not at all unwell in a physical sense but suffer from neurosis, somatisation and hypochondriasis. That is the point I was making out of concern that those demands would overwhelm the system and deny people who really need the service appointments, tests and so on.