GPs claim centralising acute services ‘unsafe’

FAMILY doctors have called on Health Minister Mary Harney to halt centralisation of acute hospital services until safe and accessible alternatives are in place.

Plans by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to transform the manner in which healthcare is delivered were criticised at the weekend by doctors attending the Irish Medical Organisation’s annual conference in Killarney, Co Kerry.

Doctors said primary care teams, supposed to take some of the pressure off acute hospital services, were not functioning in the successful manner claimed by the HSE; budget cutbacks were decimating community-based services and hospitals were losing acute services without any consultation with GPs.