Longer GP waiting times inevitable from April due to expanded free access, committee hears

Waiting times for routine GP appointments are set to increase in April if the Government presses ahead with previously announced plans to substantially expand the number of people with free access to the doctors at that point, an Oireachtas committee has been told.

Representatives of the Irish College of General Practitioners told members of the Oireachtas Health Committee on Wednesday that it was inevitable that the time it takes to get a GP appointment for less urgent illnesses will get longer due to the shortage of working doctors in the sector. This, they suggested, would also have knock-on effects on already strained out of hours medical services.

Responding to questions from Sinn Féin spokesman on health David Cullinane, they acknowledged that no contact had been made with the organisation by the Department of Health prior to the announcement that an additional 400,000 GP cards were to be issued.

Asked if that had been a mistake, ICGP chief executive Fintan Foy said that while the main negotiations would have involved the Irish Medical Organisation rather than his group, he said, “yes, we would have liked to have had some contact in that respect”.

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Mr Cullinane said that while he was in favour of an expanded card roll-out, he regarded the lack of advance engagement as “a big failure on the department’s side and on the Minister’s side”.

Overall, the ICGP representatives told the committee that around 1,800 more GPs are required within the system with that taking the total to roughly 6,000 - which would provide the equivalent of 4,000 full-time roles. Currently the figures stand at roughly 4,250 and 2,800 respectively.

The organisation has set a target of achieving these figures by 2028, but its leadership acknowledged that unless there are substantial changes to the numbers of trainee doctors coming through the system, the achievement of the 6,000 figure is all but impossible.

“I don’t see any plan of substance,” said Mr Cullinane. “I don’t see any way that we are gong to train enough to get anywhere near the targets you have set.”

ICGP chairman Dr John Farrell acknowledged the scale of the problem as things stand, observing that: “The targets that we hope for, they are unlikely to be reached but if we don’t start with some sort of solution-based discussion then we are not going to get anywhere and then you’ll be having this conversation in three or four years time with somebody else sitting here.”

The representatives pointed to the 10 point plan their organisation launched in October as having the potential to make a significant contribution to the problems currently being experienced. Its recommendations include a far greater emphasis on multi-disciplinary practices, a doubling to 4,000 in the number of general practice nurses and the development of more blended career options for doctors.

Ultimately, however, they said that general practice has to be more central to the training of new doctors and that incentives have to be provided to make, in particular, working rural and inner-city practices more attractive to join and stay in.

Dr Farrell said the organisation had asked for a task force to address the situation and the Minister had agreed to a strategic review which they hope will be formally established in January and conclude within six months.

Deputies Roisin Shortall, Bernard Durkan and Cathal Crowe were among the committee members to express support for the suggestion the review group should be established quickly and pursue its work as a matter of urgency and committee chair Seán Crowe told the ICGP representatives the committee would follow up on the issue.