Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will raise a very important issue. Last Monday night, along with other public representatives, I met with some GPs in Ballinasloe to discuss grave concerns about the out-of-hours GP service for a large part of south-east Galway, including Eyrecourt, Lawrencetown, Kiltormer, Kilconnell, parts of Ballinasloe, Portumna and Loughrea. The service serves approximately 15,000 patients and is currently providing full 24-hour cover, including 53 straight hours of cover at the weekend, without a driver, nursing administration staff or a triage service. The HSE has made an application for funding to the Department of Health each year for the last five years but this has been refused on the basis that there is no funding available. Last Monday night, four of the service's doctors told us that they will be retiring very soon and that the whole system will collapse.

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