GPs urged to embrace changes to primary care

GPs have been told to embrace change and to remember that health managers can’t introduce reform without the support of doctors around the country.

The message was delivered at a conference of the Irish College of General Practitioners by the medical director of St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, Professor Jim Lucey, who said GPs should make themselves an integral part of the development of primary care services.

“Don’t be afraid to change,” Prof Lucey told the conference in Clonmel at the weekend, adding that the HSE and Department of Health need GPs to make changes to the system. “Many in the profession recognise that change is inevitable. Very few in the profession see change as opportune. Change is particularly difficult for those invested in primary care who are heavy burdened with mortgage debt and dependence on private practice and specific government payments. Since the collapse, the private patient is often unemployed or at least lower paid or even migrated, and so no longer has the spare euro for private GP services. Likewise, specific payments from the state for GP services are all reduced.”