GPs vote to halt HSE plans over payment disparity

THE 128 GPs who form the Shannondoc co-op serving 260,000 patients in Clare, Co Limerick and north Tipperary will ballot this week on a boycott of primary care teams (PCTs).

These are being rolled out nationwide by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to broaden primary care through increased local access to more specialties.

The HSE wants to form PCT clusters in which GPs will have structured contact with designated speech therapists, physiotherapists, counsellors and other health specialists.

However, the roll out of PCTs in the mid-west, due to commence before the end of the year, now faces uncertainty.

The 128 doctors in Shannondoc say the HSE has failed to take action to create parity in red-eye shift (midnight-8am) payments in different co-ops.

Shannondoc GPs pay on average around €9,000 a year to finance the payment of relief doctors they hire to work the red-eye shift, seven days a week.

Medical director of Shannondoc, Dr Brendan Thornton said GPs in one co-op did not have to pay any contribution towards their red-eye shift through a deal struck with the HSE.

Dr Thornton said: “There is a great anger among GPs about this matter. When we raise our concerns with the HSE, they nod and do nothing. All we want is equality with regard to what we pay to put in place our red-eye shift. We are just saying to the HSE ‘please address this issue’.”

Dr Thornton said Shannondo was supportive of the roll out of the PCTs in it’s area and it was envisaged that nine would be in established by Christmas.

But he said they wanted action on the red-eye payments issue before agreeing to sign up to the new PCTs arrangement.