GPs ‘unwilling to take up posts’

YOUNG doctors are reluctant to take up GP posts in some rural areas, leading to a shortage of medical manpower for patients, the Irish Medical Organisation’s conference was told at the weekend.

A shortage of doctors is forcing some overworked GPs to close their practices to new patients for safety reasons, delegates also heard. Irish GPs are treating twice as many patients as their European colleagues.

But, it was pointed out, GPs themselves might be partly to blame for the manpower crisis, with younger GPs unwilling to take up vacant posts in some rural areas and preferring to move to urban centres.

Dr Oliver Whyte, Co Mayo, said a lot of the manpower problems were partly of GPs’ own making, with some younger GPs wanting to work only two days a week for salaries of €120,000.

Dr Michael Mehigan, a Dublin GP, warned that Health Minister Mary Harney was in favour of “deregulating” general practice and there were queues of doctors from eastern Europe happy to come into Ireland to work as GPs.

However, the organisation warned that any plans by Ms Harney to deregulate entry to general practice by admitting large numbers of foreign doctors was not the solution to the GP shortage.

Dr Martin White, a Co Meath GP, said we had too few GPs for a growing population. In Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, he said, local GPs had been forced to close their lists to new patients, as they felt they could not take on any more for safety and quality reasons

Organisation president Dr Martin Daly warned that deregulating general practice would only lead to a cluster of young GPs setting up in urban areas and that would not meet the needs of rural and deprived urban areas.

He said there would be huge cultural, training and language difficulties with GPs coming to work in Ireland from other jurisdictions.