Cork GP hails benefits of community diagnostics scheme

A CORK GP has hailed the benefits of the General Practitioner Access to Community Diagnostics (GPACD) Scheme which aims to enable easier GP and patient access to a suite of radiology scans.

GP at Woodview Family Doctors in Glanmire and medical director of the Irish College of General Practitioners, Dr Diarmuid Quinlan, said the scheme has had tangible benefits for patients’ diagnoses, shortened waiting times for hospital admissions, and helped reduce hospital admissions.

It comes as Health Minister Stephen Donnelly revealed that over 700,000 directly referred community radiology diagnostic scans have been completed since the launch of the scheme in 2021 and that demand for community radiology diagnostics delivered through the scheme has more than doubled since its launch.

There were 138,000 radiology scans undertaken in 2021, the target for which was 94,000; 250,000 scans undertaken in 2022, the target for which was 195,000; and over 331,000 undertaken in 2023, the target for which was 240,000.

Under the scheme, GPs can now refer patients directly for tests including X-ray, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging at no cost to the patient, with access to the scheme available to the full adult population.

Patients then attend locations in a community setting to access these radiology diagnostics. Up until the launch of the scheme, patients had to be referred to an outpatient appointment with a hospital consultant before accessing these radiology scans or pay privately.

The budget for the GPACD scheme increased from €25m in 2021 to €46.8m in 2023, and a total allocation of €47.9m was secured for continued provision of the scheme this year.

“GPs have reported that patients are commonly seen for their scan within a few weeks,” said Dr Quinlan. “The scheme accelerates patient treatment by the GP, avoids some hospital referrals, helps compress our hospital waiting lists, and prioritises patient treatment by hospital doctors — a win-win scenario.”

Mr Donnelly said he was “delighted” to see the continued success of this initiative which he said is supporting faster access to necessary diagnostic procedures, leading to more timely treatment and improved patient experience.

“It supports GPs to manage more patient care in primary care settings, reducing the need for referrals to hospital settings,” he said.