After-hours doctor service in operation next month

WATERFORD is to have a dedicated out-of-hours doctor service within a fortnight with the launch of the cooperative Caredoc system.

The county is the final one in the South-East to be covered by the service, which comes into operation on April 12.

Under the scheme, Waterford city and county’s family doctors will pool their resources to provide night, weekend and public holiday cover for patients.

Those who fall sick out of normal surgery hours will simply phone a central number and will either have a doctor dispatched to their home in an emergency or will be able to visit clinics in Waterford city, Dungarvan or Lismore.

GPs involved in the out-of-hours service will operate on a rota system which will cover one of the county’s three clinics.

The service was originally scheduled to be introduced to Waterford in 2002 but it was put on hold because the former South Eastern Health Board was unable to get its hands on the necessary funding for Waterford.

The cost of setting up the service was €800,000.

Caredoc manager Phonsie McCarron said the service in Waterford will employ about 30 staff, mostly part-time, including nurses, drivers and administration.

He confirmed that all the county’s 55 family doctors have signed up to be involved in the co-op scheme, which will cover a population of 110,000.

Waterford city’s Caredoc clinic will be located next to the Health Service Executive’s Community Care headquarters on the Cork Road.

The locations of the Dungarvan and Lismore clinics have still to be finalised.

Tramore GP Dr Eoin Maughan chaired the committee that is setting up Caredoc in Waterford. He said family doctors were delighted this service was finally coming to Waterford.

“Most doctors (at the moment) would be organised into rotas of five or six but that still means they have onerous duties working during the day and night,” he said.

Waterford GPs deal with all patient calls directly when on-call but with Caredoc they have the back-up of a nurse and receptionist at the clinic and a driver to transport them to house calls.

Dr Maughan said Caredoc also provided a much better after-hours medical service for patients. It made it easier for them to contact a GP and access medical treatment and advice after normal surgery hours.

Waterford people needing a family doctor at night and at weekends from April 12 should call Caredoc’s central phone number at 1850 334 999.