Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There are difficulties across the country but I need to be sure that the Minister of State recognises that local issues are making it more difficult for people to access GP services in Macroom than anywhere in else in the country. What we are looking for is to be able to compete on a level footing to fulfil that vacancy. The out-of-hours rota in the area, at one in seven, is over and above what would be expected anywhere in the country. It means that a Macroom doctor is expected to be on call four times more often at night and at weekends than a colleague in Cork, which is just down the road, who is on a rota of one in 31.

I refer to the absence of the rural practice allowance. The Minister of State referred to increased support for GPs working in rural practices and those in disadvantaged urban areas but that does not apply to Macroom. Macroom does not have that status despite the fact that it has a very large rural hinterland. There are unique local issues in Macroom that are relevant. The recent retirement merely illustrates the difficulty that has existed in recent years, which I have highlighted here on previous occasions.

What we are looking for in Macroom is a level playing field to ensure the obstacles that are unique to Macroom - the out-of-hours service and the absence of a rural practice - will be addressed. In that way, people advertising for a Macroom job would have an equal standing with every other area in the country. It would mean also that locals would have a real expectation that there would be a GP available to them and that they will not have to crisscross the country for such a service.

I will give the Minister of State an example of a lady who travels to and from Kildare every month where she had her GP service until now. That does not make sense. There are people from Cork, Tralee and across the country because they cannot get a service locally. It needs to be tackled.

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