TD says Taoiseach needs to ‘wake up’ to shortage of GPs

CORK South-West TD Michael Collins says the Taoiseach must ‘wake up’ to a chronic shortage of general practitioners in rural areas such as the Beara peninsula and Castletownbere.

His comments come after The Southern Star reported on how one West Cork GP, Dr Fiona Kelly, had to close her practice temporally despite her desperate but unsuccessful attempts to source a locum or cover GP during a family holiday. A retired GP was unable to provide cover as she would have required 12-month insurance despite only needing insurance for one additional day.

Deputy Collins raised the issue at Leader’s Questions in the Dáil, citing the case of Dr Kelly who has been running her  practice in Castletownbere since 2009.

‘The Taoiseach’s response today was nothing short of shocking in that he subtly but effectively blamed single-handed GP practices for the situation they find themselves in,’ said Cllr Collins. ‘It’s their own fault for not working in a team, that is basically what he said. It was patronising nonsense that utterly failed to respect the nature of rural GP
services.

‘This is happening because we have a dire lack of locum GPs, an escalating retirement rate for older GPs, a frankly stupid system of medical insurance bureaucracy and a flight of talent from the country in terms of the number of young, qualified GPs who are emigrating each year. If the “solutions” the government brought forward were working, this would not be happening.’

Deputy Collins said the government must reform how we access equivalently-qualified GPs from inside and outside the EU by safely and responsibly reducing the current registration process which can take up to 12 months

‘We have a massively growing population that is not being catered for, even with the growth in GP registrations.

‘In light of these facts the Taoiseach’s response to me  in terms of tone and content is not just disappointing, it is dangerously out of touch. 

‘He needs to wake up and come to terms with the disastrous mismanagement of this issue he as a former Minister for Health, and previous governments have presided over,’ said the Mizen deputy.