Dr. Diarmuid Quinlan:

I am very familiar with SouthDoc. The majority of the GPs across Cork and Kerry work in SouthDoc. I worked there, myself, last Saturday. With a shrinking GP pool and increasing demands it is becoming increasingly challenging to do that. We are asking doctors who are working during the week to work in the evenings and at weekends. That is increasingly challenging and it is a disincentive. It is particularly hard for my colleagues in rural areas of Cork and Kerry rather than in a city. It comes back to the issue that we simply do not have enough GPs. If we had a sufficient number of GPs, it would share the burden and mean patients would get timely access to high-quality care. It all comes back to the GP workforce deficit we are currently experiencing.