RESOURCES PROBLEM:THE MEDICAL manpower crisis in general practice is set to worsen significantly, doctors attending the annual meeting of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) have been told.
ICGP chief executive Fionán O'Cuinneagain said it was likely the HSE would cut funding for GP training programmes in 2010, with the loss of a significant number of the current 120 training posts.
He was speaking during a motion proposed by the college's Wexford faculty calling for the implementation of "Phase 2" training, whereby doctors who have completed two years' hospital experience would be offered dedicated training to enable them satisfy Medical Council criteria to become specialists in general practice.
At present, 120 new GPs qualify from training schemes around the country each year, but this number is below projected manpower needs.
As a result of a "bulge" in the number of family doctors due to retire on age grounds in the next five years and changing demographic factors, the current rate of production of specialist GPs cannot keep pace with demand.
There have been reports of patients in certain areas, such as inner cities, experiencing difficulty finding a doctor, while the immunisation schedule of a small number of newborn infants has reportedly been threatened by GP manpower problems.
Meanwhile, the ICGP has signaled its support for the broad principle underlying the new Fine Gael health policy, FairCare, which was launched late last month. The college chairman, Dr Mark Walsh, said it would support the principle of equity promised by a universal health insurance model of health service funding.
However, the representative body for family doctors warned of the significant differences in infrastructure between the Dutch and Irish health services which may affect the applicability of a single statutory health insurance scheme here.
And ICGP officers rejected the proposal put forward by Fine Gael for a national body test for all Irish people because of a lack of evidence that such blanket testing would improve the health of those tested.