This article is from page 16 of the 2006-11-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
CLARE doctors are paying up to €14,000 per annum for locum late-night cover, according to the Chairman of the Irish Medical Organisation’s GP Committee, Ian McGuinness.
This service, which provides cover for late-night ‘red-eye shifts’ in coops, has become a growing expense for small rural practices, such as those in west and north Clare, in recent times.
Galway-based GP, Dr Martin Daly, commented last week that a number of doctors in Clare were paying up to €14,000 each year for cover. In addition, doctors in Mayo were paying as much as €9,000, while some WestDoc doctors paid out close to €7,000.
“While this might be viable for larger general practices, it is not so for smaller ones.
“The Government and health management are storing up a massive well of frustration among our GP members in relation to out-of-hours work,” said Dr Daly.
It now looks likely that the members of the Irish Medical Organisation will push the doctor’s union to seek the exclusion of responsibility for out-of-hours work from any proposed new GP contract. Dr Daly added that since 2001 it has been impossible to engage with the Department of Health and the Government and to have any meaningful talks about out-of-hours work.
According to the Irish Medical Organisation, if Irish GPs were to follow their British counterparts and opted out of providing out of hours services, it would cost the government and Health Service Executive much more than it is costing at present.