HSE, doctors agree on north Dublin service

The Health Service Executive (HSE) and doctors have reached an agreement on the provision of an out-of-hours GP service in north Dublin.

In a joint statement, the HSE and the Irish Medical Organisation said officials from both sides will meet in the next number of days to sign off on a detailed document. A further announcement will be made at that point, the statement added.

The HSE said last week it is confident an out-of-hours GP co-op for north Dublin would be up and running in September.

Speaking at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children, Dr Seán McGuire, adviser to HSE chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm, said the HSE was already preparing the infrastructure required to deliver the service.

GP out-of-hours co-ops are already running in many parts of the country with 16,000 calls received by them every week, the committee was told.

Some 40 per cent of the callers are dealt with by triage nurses, while 50 per cent are advised to come into the centre, and 10 per cent receive house calls.

The north Dublin service will cover 500,000 people from six call centres. The co-op's assets will be owned by the HSE, and local GPs will have clinical governance.