Shannondoc receives 12,500 inbound calls in just one day

Mid-West out-of-hours GP service said during peak times it dealt with 'approximately one patient every minute'

Shannondoc has warned callers to its switchboard will struggle to access its phone lines during peak times as it deals with an unprecedented volumes of calls.

The Mid-West out-of-hours GP service Shannondoc has warned callers to its switchboard will struggle to access its phone lines during peak times as it deals with an unprecedented volumes of calls.

As University Hospital Limerick battles patient overcrowding and GPs deal with patient surges due to flu, Covid-19 and RSV, Shannondoc has revealed that in just one day it received over 12,500 inbound calls.

In a statement sent on its behalf by the HSE to Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan on December 30 — three days before UHL declared a major overcrowding emergency in its emergency department — Shannondoc said: “These are incredible numbers which amount to almost one month of calls in just one day.

“As a result of the patient surge during some periods at peak times on December 26 and 27, the service was operating above its maximum capacity. In some instances, this resulted in patients having difficulty accessing the phone lines. 

Due to the unprecedented call volumes, it is inevitable there will be longer than usual wait times and there may be difficulties in accessing the phone lines during peak times.”

Shannondoc further warned: “Unfortunately, we remain very concerned about the winter period ahead. GP surgeries in recent weeks have experienced an exponential surge, which has carried through to the out-of-hours service.” 

It urged the public “to please only contact the service if you really need to”.

Shannondoc said during peak times it dealt with “approximately one patient every minute”.

“The out-of-hours service managed to provide 40% more GP appointments when compared to last year, with a significant portion of patients presenting with respiratory illnesses.” 

It said it had tried to prepare for an expected surge in patients by rostering “more doctors than previous years with a 30% increase in medical manpower on duty”.

However, it explained “this year’s patient surge is unprecedented, with patient volumes contacting the service amounting to almost three times more than last year’s levels”.