The Competition Authority has granted the IMO an extension to the deadline given to it to comply with a request to rescind a decision to withdraw its GP members from some services and initiatives in protest at a new round of fee cuts.

The Authority says the deadline has been extended to 12pm on Monday.

Earlier this week, the IMO said its GP members would withdraw from any work that is not covered by the terms of the GMS (medical card) contract. This included an immediate withdrawal from primary care teams, community intervention teams and clinical care programmes for the management of chronic disease.

However, the Competition Authority told the IMO this decision was in breach of the Competition Act and EU law, and it ordered the IMO to immediately reverse its decision to withdraw from these services.

The Authority said withdrawing services, regardless of claims that they may be free or pro bono, is viewed as an attempt to directly or indirectly fix the fees that are paid to GPs by the Government under the GMS contract, and such a withdrawal was therefore in breach of the law.

Self-employed GPs are subject to competition law, as they are private businesses, unlike employees, who may act collectively, represented by a union, and are not subject to competition law, the Authority said.

The IMO says it is taking legal advice on the issues raised by the Authority.

The Department of Health recently announced GP fee cuts of around 7.5% for some services under State schemes.