Dearth of GPs in Cork affecting both patient and doctor wellbeing

FRONTLINE staff in GP practices are being subjected to abuse for not being able to take on new patients, a Cork doctor has said.

Dr Audrey Russell, a GP in Macroom, told The Echo: “There’s no secret that there’s a huge shortage of GPs on the ground, that means we are working longer hours, and it’s very hard to get holidays.

“You can’t take on new patients, because the quality of care you provide would suffer, and in Macroom there are a load of patients with no GP in the locality, who are going to Fermoy or to Kerry, which is not satisfactory, particularly for families with small children.

“The frontline staff in general practice take the brunt of the anger, it’s relatively rare that the GPs are given out to, but frontline staff get a lot of abuse. “There’s people who don’t have a GP at all, and then people who do have a GP but are told they could be waiting two or three weeks – You’ll always get an urgent appointment, but the wait lists for routine things are getting longer and that has its own kind of backlash.”

Shortage

Glanmire GP and medical director of the Irish College of General Practitioners, Dr Diarmuid Quinlan, told The Echo the GP shortage was, in part, down to population rises, including an increase in the number of older people.

“The number of people over 65 has gone from 70,000 to 80,000 in last four years, and two thirds of them have three or more diseases so need more GP care, and 14% of GPs are aged over 65 themselves — the majority of them will retire in the next three years, meaning a loss of 600 GPs.”

Children are also going to the doctor a lot more since the GMS scheme was expanded, he said, explaining: “When children under six got free GP care, their consultation rate increased by 30%.

“This brought them up to the EU norm, as when they had to pay, they weren’t going as often, so we welcome that the GMS expansion has happened, but it has brought an increased demand,” he said.

GP agreement

There are currently 319 GMS panels (GPs who see medical card patients and under eights) in Cork, a HSE spokesperson told The Echo, adding that the number of persons whose names may be placed on the list of the practitioner should not exceed 2,000 — but under the most recent GP Agreement, this maximum has been increased to 2,200.

Dr Quinlan said: “All these reasons have soaked up all the locum workers, so the pool of locums has virtually disappeared, so a lot of GPs have also not been able to take holidays.”

“I know of a GP whose child is graduating from university and they cannot get a locum to cover for them so they can attend.”

He added that that there is positive change incoming, as the numbers of GPs in training programs has been increased significantly to 350 a year, and that under 5% of these plan to emigrate, and that they are open to support Irish-trained GPs who are working elsewhere to relocate.

Graduate

The HSE are also funding an international medical graduate rural program, placing doctors from overseas outside of cities, with two currently training in Carrigaline, one in Killeagh, and one in Newmarket.

“These are experienced GPs who have worked elsewhere and the communities are very welcoming of these overseas candidates,” he said, adding “the program allows for a two-year education in a GP practice and they will ideally remain in that area once qualified.”