Over half the GPs in Kerry gathered outside the county's general hospital in Tralee yesterday to demand "fair play" for the hospital. Some 40 placard-carrying doctors left their surgeries and were joined in a lunchtime protest by a small number of junior doctors at the hospital.
The doctors attended the protest on a personal basis, although the protest had followed an extraordinary meeting of the Kerry College of the Irish faculty of GPs in Killarney on Thursday night.
One GP, Tralee-based Michael McGrath, said Kerry General was the Southern Health Board's second biggest acute hospital, but it had not got its fair share of resources and had suffered under Cork health minister Micheál Martin when Cork services were upgraded.
He said staff numbers had changed little since the hospital opened in 1984, despite an increase in the county's population and in the hospital catchment area. The A&E unit was still not built, despite years of promises.
Hospital staff, patients and GPs saw the lack of funding on the ground, Dr McGrath said. The hospital had no full-time cardiologist and funding for its part-time cardiologist had been cut.
"We feel we are left with no other option but to show our frustration at the lack of proper funding and staff, particularly in casualty," he said. "We need a full-time cardiologist". Dr McGrath also criticised the HSE's lack of consultation with doctors.
Dr Garry Stack of Killarney said: "The 2,500 GPs in this country should be listened to." Kerry General saw 28,000 new attendances alone in 2004 and in all 35,000 patients were seen including reviews. Nonetheless, it had just one consultant in A&E, five junior doctors, and no registrar. By comparison the Mercy hospital in Cork with 27,000 new attendances last year had one full-time and a second shared consultant in its A&E department; two registrars and seven junior doctors.
A statement from the HSE, southern area, said it would meet the GPs. "It is also proposed to establish a GP liaison group with the hospital which would include consultant medical staff and management from the hospital, GPs and a representative from the community services in the HSE," the statement said.
The HSE wanted to alleviate any concerns relating to the status of the hospital and said there would be no downgrading. A new emergency department and ambulatory care unit were planned, and "an application has been made for the appointment of a full-time cardiologist" to the National Hospitals Office, spokesman Peter Dineen said.
Kerry North Fine Gael TD Jimmy Deenihan said it was totally unprecedented for GPs to have to resort to the action taken at the hospital.
It was very much up to the only Minister in the county, John O'Donoghue, to prioritise Kerry General Hospital for a better budget, he said.
Sinn Féin TD Martin Ferris criticised the absence of any Government politician at yesterday's protest.