GPs providing 'overwhelming majority' of abortion services call for increased investment

HSE report showed 483 GP contracts are in place, about 10% of the GP workforce. File picture

GPs providing abortions have called for investment to match supports for hospital termination care as most terminations are done by GPs.

This follows a report published by the HSE last week on the first six years of providing terminations in Ireland.

It showed while GP providers are reasonably well distributed, rural areas remain under-served, with other gaps also identified.

It showed 483 GP contracts are in place. This comes to about 10% of the GP workforce.

Dr Trish Horgan with the Southern Taskforce on Abortion and Reproductive Topics (START) welcomed the increase in GP contract holders since 2019.

“This is encouraging,” she said on Monday.

“I think it’s important in interpreting that to remember that the actual number of providing GPs by far exceeds the number of contract-holder GPs.

“We know within any given practice you could have a number of GPs providing under the one contract.” 

She estimated “the vast majority” of abortions in Ireland were provided by GPs. These medical terminations are for women under nine weeks' pregnant.

The HSE report shows: “There are significant differences from one county to the next. That’s at least partly accounted for by the fact that the geographic dispersal of providers is not uniform within the country.” 

Dr Horgan said among its members, the service is “up and running”, and she expressed gratitude to hospitals which provide support for complex cases.

“They’ve developed their services within the hospitals and it’s true to say without the hospital services being developed, we couldn’t have begun provision,” she said.

She said patients could have “excellent care” within the hospitals.

“It’s very encouraging to see in this report the developments within secondary care, the development in terms of the investment in clinical leadership, in governance and quality improvement,” she said.

“GPs would like to see that extended now going forward to a primary care strategy because GPs are delivering the overwhelming majority of abortion care nationally,” she said.

START offers peer support and she said: "We’ve more than 650 members within our group, most of whom are GPs but we have hospital providers in that group as well."

She welcomed training modules also offered by the Irish College of GPs.

However, Dr Horgan, a GP in Cork City, said: “We ourselves have recognised a gap in the data that’s currently available in terms of GP provisions.

“We’ve sought to bridge that gap. We’ve collaborated with Trinity College in a study called an ADAPT study, activity data in early medical abortion care. This seeks to collect data from GP practices in terms of the care they’re giving.” 

She added: “We’d love to see a comprehensive assessment of GP care and we’d love to see that ultimately supported by the HSE.”