Out-of-hours doctors’ co-ops will collapse if the proposal to roll out free GP care to all in the next five years is followed through, the chair of the Irish Association of GP Co-operatives has warned, writes Catherine Shanahan.

Out-of-hours doctors’ co-ops will collapse if the proposal to roll out free GP care to all in the next five years is followed through, the chair of the Irish Association of GP Co-operatives has warned.

The threat of families switching to a new doctor if their GP chooses to opt out of treating under-6s for free is likely to be one of the key deciding factors in whether doctors sign up.

A CORONER yesterday said a 49-year-old father of one, who died of suffocation caused by a cancer tumour while receiving alternative therapies, would still be alive had he had received conventional medicine.