Cork GP: Irish health system faces ‘huge challenges’

A Cork doctor and elected member of Cork City Council has said that the Irish health system faces significant challenges due to the large increase in population with a doubling of those aged over 65 expected in the next 15 years.

Dr John Sheehan, the Blackpool-based medic and councillor in the North West ward, was speaking to The Echo after the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) published its pre-Budget submission in which it said the health system was at a “critical juncture” and facing what it described as “persistent and worsening crises”.

Dr Sheehan said the challenges ahead, particularly the growth in the over-65 population, will require more community-based facilities with beds for rehabilitating patients and those transitioning from hospital to homes.

Changing

“We’re the EU country with the highest life expectancy,” said Dr Sheehan. 

“But this in itself is going to pose us huge challenges as more people will fall ill and contract various illnesses.

“The model the west has had traditionally over the past 150 years is also changing, it’s moving away from the big hospital which caters for every specialty in a central location to disease/illness hubs which cater for specific ailments in different locations,” he said, referring to centres in Ballincollig, Mallow and elsewhere in the county.”

While acknowledging that funding for the health system has never been greater, the IMO’s submission said the funding was merely allowing the health system “to just stand still”.

Submission

In its submission, the IMO pointed to the 14.4% increase over the past decade in Ireland’s population, with 15.3% of the population aged more than 65 years. It said that at the same time, there has been little or no increase in inpatient beds in the past 20 years and waiting lists had almost tripled in the decade between 2013 and 2023.

IMO President Dr Denis McCauley said there had been “decades of insufficient planning and investment in our health system” which had left it at “a critical juncture”.

“The system’s capacity has not kept pace with demand, resulting in overcrowding, patients on trolleys and prolonged waiting times in emergency departments,” he said.

Among the recommendations in the IMO submission is an increase of more than one-third in the number of acute inpatient beds.

It also recommends measures aimed at enabling GPs to establish and sustain GP practices through an independent GP contractor model.