THE BIGGEST challenge for rural doctors is to ensure that rural practice remains viable and that local health services are not lost from peripheral areas in the way schools, post offices and garda stations have been lost, a conference in Galway heard at the weekend.
Mayo GP Dr Jerry Cowley said that working conditions had improved considerably for GPs in rural Ireland over the past few years, but they were very concerned about the continuing loss of services such as local hospitals.
"I believe standards and conditions have improved considerably for rural doctors and there is a lot of support there now because we lobbied for it and put our case forward. The out-of-hour co-ops, for instance, which we were the first to advocate for and the last to get, have revolutionised rural practice and given a future to us."
Dr Cowley was speaking at the 23rd annual Rural Doctors Conference in Galway as chairman of the Rural Doctors Group and conference organiser. "There has been a difficulty with erosion of services from rural areas and retention of doctors is still a problem. Women in particular are not interested in being on call, day and night, 365 days of the year.
"As rural doctors, we never know what's going to come to the door. I have had at least half a dozen births in my house with my wife assisting [though she has no medical background] because the mother did not have time to get to hospital and we often have to treat dogs and other animals."
Dr Cowley claimed that in the past, rural doctors regularly dropped dead of coronaries at a young age from overwork, but the improvement in working conditions meant doctors today could give the best possible care to their patients while also having a family life.
He said the Rural Doctors Group was very much involved in trying to ensure that rural GPs had adequate facilities and training to be able to deal with every case that arrived at their door. Dr Cowley said the GPs were "the first port of call in every rural storm" and were in a good position to reduce morbidity and mortality cost effectively in their local communities.
"We have a big responsibility to ensure people do not go to hospital unless they have to and this is why we need to be upgrading our education all the time.
"We believe older people could be adequately treated for self-limiting illnesses if they are supported at home and we welcome the shift towards local primary care teams although a lot of the ground that was made in this area has been taken back again," he said.
