SouthDoc has urged the public to be understanding when accessing the service over the St Patrick’s Holiday weekend as it deals with a significant increase in patient demand.

The out-of-hours GP service for urgent medical care will operate 24 hours a day through to Monday, March 20 which SouthDoc has said “will obviously result in a significant increase in the demand”.

SouthDoc ordinarily deals with approximately 2,500 patients each weekend and expects that number to increase considerably this weekend due to the celebratory nature of the St Patrick’s Public Holiday as well as being a very busy sporting weekend, according to Medical Director Dr Gary Stack.

“It has been an extraordinarily busy year for SouthDoc and already we have seen an unprecedented demand for the service, far outstripping previous years. For example, demand for the service is up almost 10% on the same period last year,” Dr Stack said.

The service is well prepared for the forthcoming busy weekend and this can only be achieved with the superb and committed team of staff and Doctors across Cork and Kerry.

Dr Stack urged the public to be understanding when making contact with the service over the coming holiday weekend and stressed that any patient that requires to be seen will be seen and priority will be given to those based on their individual clinical needs.

He stressed the necessity for self-care over the holiday weekend and wished everyone a safe and enjoyable weekend.