Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this morning's news that more than 1,300 medical professionals and graduates have applied for 350 GP places. There are now more than 1,000 trainee GPs in the training programme. We absolutely recognise that there are not enough at the moment but this compares with 700 in 2019. It is positive news for a lot of people. Locally, in County Louth, there are not enough GPs. People are struggling to find GPs and GPs are struggling to see their patients. I know a GP who is working nearly every hour of the day to try to get through her patients. GPs do incredible work and are very important.

I highlight the fact that there is currently no prescribed ratio between GPs and patients in communities. The HSE regulates and gives out contracts under the general medical services, GMS, scheme but we know the communities where a great proportion of people are struggling. I suggest that the HSE look at those struggling areas in which there are no GPs and that it work actively to get a GMS scheme GP into those areas because there are people in communities across County Louth who are waiting weeks to see a GP, which puts pressure on our hospitals. As we all know, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital cannot take people who just want to see a GP.Last year, I myself had the experience of being a mother who could not get a GP and who brought her child to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda for a serious throat infection. We should not have to a child to our accident and emergency department, which puts pressure on it. I commend the fact there is an increase in the number of GP training places, but there is a lot more work to do.