The Health Service Executive (HSE) has said it is confident that an out-of-hours GP co-op for north Dublin will be up and running in September, although negotiations with local GPs are still ongoing.
Speaking at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children yesterday, Dr Seán McGuire, adviser to HSE chief executive Prof Brendan Drumm, said that because the HSE is confident negotiations will be concluded successfully, they are already preparing the infrastructure required to deliver the service.
Negotiations for the introduction of an out-of-hours service were under way with GPs in north Dublin this time last year, but failed. The HSE then put the service out to tender, but with no success.
Tadhg O'Brien, assistant director with the HSE, said no party met the minimum standard for service required and the process was terminated.
"Prof Drumm then wrote to the IMO seeking a high-level involvement by them in facilitating negotiation," he said.
"It is acknowledged by all participants that significant progress has been achieved. All parties expect the new comprehensive service to commence this September."
GP out-of-hours co-ops are already running in many parts of the country with 16,000 calls received by them every week, the committee was told.
Some 40 per cent of the callers are dealt with by triage nurses, while 50 per cent are advised to come into the centre and 10 per cent receive house calls.
The north Dublin service will cover 500,000 people from six call centres. The co-op's assets will be owned by the HSE and local GPs will have clinical governance.
Dr McGuire said the HSE would also be investing funds to enable GPs to have access to X-rays and ultrasound.
He said the demand for GPs out of hours was increasing.
"People are used to going shopping on Sunday," he said.
"The threshold for contacting a doctor on Sunday has been lowered."
