Tendering process for out-of-hours GPs axed

A KEY part of the Government’s €70 million plan to tackle the A&E crisis has suffered a major setback with the axing of the Health Service Executive’s (HSE) tendering process to extend out-of-hours GP cover.

Yesterday, the HSE confirmed it had terminated a tender process for an out-of-hours GP service in North Dublin and would “pursue alternative arrangements” to put the service in place.

The service was mooted by Tánaiste Mary Harney as part of the panacea to overcrowding in A&E departments in the Mater and Beaumont Hospitals.