Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this very important issue. I do not doubt the enhanced quality of life that can be enjoyed by living or working in rural parts of Galway. The Government is committed to enhancing primary healthcare services throughout the country, including out-of-hours GP services. The development of primary care is central to the Government’s objective of delivering a high-quality, integrated and cost-effective health service. As the Senator will be aware, GPs contracted under the general medical services scheme are required by their contract to make suitable arrangements to enable contact to be made with them, or with a locum or a deputy, for emergencies outside of normal practice hours.

While there is no obligation on GPs to participate in GP out-of-hours co-operatives as a means of meeting the contractual requirement, such services facilitate the provision of GP services outside of normal surgery hours and help spread the burden of this provision. Out-of-hours GP services for counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon are largely provided by the Westdoc co-operative, which is owned and managed by a group of participating GPs. The HSE provides substantial funding to support out-of-hours co-operatives, through service level arrangements, to cover certain costs associated with, for example, call centres, treatment centres, triage nurses and receptionists. Through this arrangement, HSE community healthcare organisation, CHO, west provides annual funding of approximately €4 million to Westdoc to support the delivery of its out-of-hours GP service. This helps ensure that, to the greatest extent possible, urgent care needs are met in the primary care setting.

In addition to the funding allocated through the service level arrangement, CHO west was allocated funding of €536,000 in the current year from the HSE at national level for the expansion of the Westdoc service to GPs in Moycullen and Oughterard. Full nurse triage and doctor red-eye cover from 12 midnight to 8 a.m., as the Senator outlined, is currently in place. Management in Westdoc, in conjunction with the GP members of Westdoc, are currently considering the options available to expand this cover so as to have the GPs concerned become full members of Westdoc. The outcome of these discussions is expected towards the end of this year.

The Government is committed to ensuring patients throughout the country will continue to have access to GP services, including out-of-hours services. The Department and the HSE have commenced a strategic review of general practice. The review, with input from key stakeholders, will examine the broad range of issues affecting general practice, including out-of-hours services, and will set out the measures necessary to deliver a more sustainable general practice.