Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising the issue. The Government is committed to enhancing primary health care services - including GP services - throughout the country.

Patient needs for health care can arise at any time and GPs contracted under the GMS scheme must make suitable arrangements to enable contact to be made with them, or a locum or deputy, for emergencies outside normal practice hours. While GPs are not obliged to participate in out-of-hours co-operatives as a means of meeting the contractual requirement, such services have been developed and expanded over time and are now an essential part of our primary care services. This helps to ensure that, to the greatest extent possible, that urgent care needs are met in the primary care setting.

SouthDoc operates and provides out-of-hours GP services in Cork and Kerry. The HSE provides funding to support this service including the costs of triage nurses, call centre, treatment centres, drivers, cars and receptionists. Of more than 215,000 patients that SouthDoc dealt with in 2016, approximately 10,000 were from the Bandon and Kinsale area. In 2013, SouthDoc undertook a review of the service across the Cork and Kerry area. The review considered issues such as levels of activity, availability and sustainability of GPs in each area as well as value for money. This review resulted in changes to service delivery in a number of areas, including Kinsale. SouthDoc took the decision to establish the main centre for this area in Bandon, and base the doctors there on weekdays from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. and for the weekend service, while retaining a treatment centre in Kinsale. After 11 p.m., one doctor on-call is based in the Bandon treatment centre and travels out as required. If a backlog remains at the 11 p.m. handover, the second doctor will remain on duty as required to deal with the patients waiting to be seen. The levels of activity in this area and the access to an alternative location within a distance of 19 km were key considerations when making the decision.

The HSE has advised that at least two doctors continue to be on duty in the area, supported by additional doctors when necessary. The doctors are also backed up by the wider SouthDoc infrastructure and resources including triage nurse team in headquarters. For all those in Cork and Kerry who contacts SouthDoc, a patient's condition will dictate the appropriate treatment and its delivery location in line with clinical protocols. Patients are contacted directly and given a suitable appointment time in the appropriate location which may be in either treatment centre or could be a home visit in the case of a patient being unable to travel. At all times, the progress of each patient is clinically managed on an individual basis in line with that patient’s condition. The HSE has advised that 80% of all patients are treated within 90 minutes of initial contact.