Southdoc closures in Blackpool and Listowel labelled 'disgraceful'

Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould received correspondences in which Southdoc informed the HSE that it did not plan to reopen the Blackpool centre in Cork city or the Listowel centre in Kerry

SouthDoc transport at their base at the Kinsale Road Roundabout. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

“Disgraceful” documents reveal that the HSE has repeatedly and unsuccessfully asked private operator Southdoc to reopen its shuttered out-of-hours GP services in Cork and Kerry since September.

Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould received correspondences through a Freedom of Information request in which Southdoc informed the HSE that it did not plan to reopen the Blackpool centre in Cork city or the Listowel centre in Kerry.

The Cork TD has called for the services to reopen immediately and believes that a failure to do so would be in breach of the Service Level Agreement between the HSE and Southdoc which is worth more than €7m annually.

In October, the HSE told Southdoc that a failure to reopen the centres would pose “a serious risk to the unnecessary presentations to the acute hospital” and was unacceptable.

“It is essential that these centres reopen with immediate effect to ameliorate any such risk to increased hospital attendances/admissions,” the document, dated October 16, stated.

Southdoc replied that a shortage of doctors in Listowel made reopening the centre there untenable.

While in “Cork city doctors are working more effectively from a single treatment centre “ and operating a “safer model for all concerned.” 

But while the centre has been closed, vulnerable families have been forced to walk miles at night with children or pay expensive taxis to get to the only open Southdoc in Cork city, situated in an industrial estate at the Kinsale Road Roundabout which is only easily accessed by car.

“The correspondence between the HSE and Southdoc is disgraceful,” Mr Gould said.

“The HSE replied to Southdoc on the 16th of October to say they ‘do not accept’ the position that Southdocs in Blackpool and Listowel will remain closed indefinitely and that the proposal to continue with the closures ‘poses a serious risk to unnecessary presentations to acute hospital’.  

“The HSE called for these centres to reopen with ‘immediate effect’ and said that the information on which ‘Southdoc is basing the decision to keep these centres closed is unreliable’. 

Southdoc replied to the HSE restating that they had no intention to reopen either facility.

“From my own understanding, after detailed scrutiny of the Service Level Agreement between the HSE and Southdoc, a failure to reopen the facility by 31st December will be in breach of this agreement upon which funding is based. The Southdoc facilities across Cork and Kerry receive over €7.293m funding annually from the HSE.

“The Taoiseach has refused to intervene despite repeated calls by myself on him. The assurance that Minister Donnelly will present a timeline on the reopening of Southdoc to the Dáil before the Christmas recess is just not good enough. Southdoc has completely disregarded the safety of their patients and the warnings of the HSE.

“We cannot allow private operators to treat the State in this way. In the middle of this are ordinary people who are struggling to access out of hours GP services. In Cork, without Blackpool people are being forced to pay €40 in taxis and travel across the city to access emergency healthcare. Coming into the Christmas period now, with many GPs closed, this needs to be sorted,” Mr Gould said.

SouthDoc’s Board of Directors “strongly disagree” that the continued closure of the centres presents a serious risk to patients due to unnecessary hospital presentations.

A letter sent by SouthDoc said that it has seen no data to back this assertion up.

It also strongly disagrees with the HSE assertion that its data was unreliable.

It said that it is operating “at full capacity” and there has been “no diminution of the service.” Listowel has been covered from the Tralee rota and Cork has been serviced by the one centre on Kinsale Road roundabout.

“All decisions made by SouthDoc Board of Directors are made in light of clinical best practice and the most effective management to ensure safe service delivery,” a letter sent by SouthDoc representatives said.

It “remains prudent” that the two centres remain closed, it said.