Fears for Macroom SouthDoc service

A MACROOM doctor has expressed his concern about the future of the town’s SouthDoc service, which he helped to establish over two decades ago.

Just weeks after a protest in Fermoy and fears expressed in Skibbereen regarding the out-of-hours medical service, Dr Con Kelleher, a founding member of Macroom SouthDoc, said there is a much reduced service in the town and it’s ‘not operating as intended’.

‘Over the past number of years, the hours of SouthDoc opening in Macroom have diminished,’ said Dr Kelleher, who was an original cell member of the town’s SouthDoc service, from 2002 to 2014.

‘It is my understanding that Macroom SouthDoc has been without a doctor for several days this year and last. On  Sunday July 30th  last there was no doctor working from the Macroom centre,’ he said.

Dr Kelleher cited many causes for the reduction in the service including money, personnel, GP scarcity, workload, and younger graduates emigrating after qualification.

‘Whatever the causes, doctors are absent from Macroom occasionally and the service is reduced. Skibbereen’s SouthDoc service has been reported as closed, and there is a suggestion that Macroom’s too may be closed,’ he said.

He said the current service is a far cry from earlier versions. He also fears that a worsening situation will leave patients without a service they assume they have.

The HSE said ‘there are no plans to close any treatment centre in Macroom.’ But after similar statements regarding Skibbereen, Cllr Joe Carroll said the HSE was ‘in denial’ about the state of the service.