Long GP appointment delays will be 'new normal', says IMO

Dr Denis McCauley of the Irish Medical Organisation said 'general practice is reponsive, but just can't cope with this demand'. Picture: North West Newspix

Patients facing long delays for a GP appointment will be the new normal in a “politically made” health crisis, a GP representative body has warned.

As hospital consultants claim patients are avoiding emergency departments due to chronic overcrowding, the Irish Medical Organisation’s GP committee chairman, Dr Denis McCauley, said general practice is also struggling to cope with existing patient demand.

Dr McCauley warned that delays in getting a GP appointment will worsen when an additional 430,000 people receive free access through GP visit cards in April.

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“You can see that general practice is responsive but just can’t cope with this demand.

“When the new medical cards come in, this will be the new normal. We are worried when these new cards come in, we will be in crisis,” he said. 

The thing about the GP crisis is it will be a politically-made event rather than anything else.

“The Government is sleep-walking into ruining a service that is actually functioning. It makes me very worried.” 

Meanwhile, as the hospital overcrowding crisis continues, the clinical director for cancer services at Cork University Hospital (CUH) said the patient impact is worrying.

Professor Seamus O’Reilly said: “Numbers seemed to have died down a bit, but it could be that people are staying at home and minding their illness, and that doesn’t work. That’s the concern.

“If people don’t want to come in because they don’t want to face it, that’s a worry. 

Minding your infection at home doesn’t work.” 

A medical oncologist, he does rounds in the CUH emergency department, one of the busiest in the country.

“At the weekend we were doing end-of-life care on a patient in the accident and emergency department, and that was very difficult for their family,” he said. 

“That is a very private time, death is not a dress rehearsal so we won’t gain back the time if it wasn’t done sensitively for them.” 

CUH management circulated plans yesterday with targets for staff to “step up” in the face of warnings from the Irish Hospital Consultants Association and HSE of potentially 1,000 people on trolleys nationally.

“This weekend we have allied health services, many would be there usually but there is going to be a stepped-up service from these disciplines,” he said. 

Access to scans is being increased to help patient discharges. 

A Department of Health spokesman said demand is expected to “increase gradually” on GPs when additional GP visit cards are made available this year, but said there would be “significant additional” supports available to GPs.