Southdoc patients in North Kerry can soon get house calls
From Listowel For Also Call Southdoc Will House Centre, Remain Eddie The A Which Picture: Will Service O'hare Appointments Run Open
Patients contacting Southdoc in North Kerry, Macroom, and Clonakilty can soon receive house calls from GPs as changes to maintain the service are put in place, the medical director for the out-of-hours service has said.
Southdoc hopes these changes can help to address the challenges it is facing due to shortages of GPs.
A house-call service will run from the Listowel Southdoc centre, which will also remain open for appointments.
Dr Gary Stack, also a GP in Killarney, said this is “good news” particularly for older patients or those who have young children and find travel challenging.
“It will work no differently than how it is working at the moment, no change,” he said.
“It will be decided on clinical need if they need a house call or if they need to be seen in the treatment centre whether that is in Tralee or Listowel — that will be decided clinically as well.”
He pointed to similar changes previously for Mallow and Bantry adding: “This has been working for a number of months without any issues. It’s been quite successful there.”
He reassured people the centre is not closing.
“There won’t be a doctor sitting in Listowel waiting for patients; it will be serviced by the doctor on the house-call division,” he said.
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A nationwide shortage of GPs is particularly acute in rural areas, where remaining doctors are faced with long daytime hours in addition to covering many out-of-hours (OOH) shifts.
In this case, GPs were choosing to work in Tralee rather than Listowel.
“[Rural GPs] were on-call more often and as a result practices were having difficulty recruiting. The larger centres were taking the GPs,” he said.
HSE Community Healthcare Organisation for Cork/Kerry indicated they are aware of the pressures.
“The overall availability of GPs and engagement of Locum Doctors to provide support to the OOH service is extremely difficult; specifically in relation to North Kerry,” a spokeswoman said.
“North Kerry GPs, including those in Listowel, Castleisland, and Tralee, have voted to combine GP rotas to sustain and enhance the North Kerry OOH service. This enhancement will include the provision of a dedicated home visit division for those patients unable to attend a Treatment Centre.”
However, they also advised Southdoc of an ongoing national review of all GP out-of-hours services and that “any changes proposed should be included in this review process”.
SouthDoc Chairman Dr Andrew Crosbie said the changes are essential.
“We are now at a real pinch point and without this realignment, there’s a real risk of us not being able to maintain the service going forward,” he warned.
In a statement, Southdoc listed the new arrangements covering North Kerry, Macroom and Clonakilty from January 2, 2024:
- A dedicated home visit division for patients unable to attend a treatment centre in these areas
- Macroom, Clonakilty and Listowel Southdoc centres will remain open.
- Macroom will remain by appointment only
- Clonakilty to operate as usual during the week and on Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 6pm, with Locum Doctor cover otherwise provided from Bandon
- Listowel to operate by appointment, with patients who require an in-person GP cons
ultation to travel to Tralee treatment centre