TWO IRISH GPs have developed a web-based directory to help their peers easily find the best qualified specialists to refer patients to.

GPBuddy.ie will be free for GPs to use and allows them to search for an expert by different criteria including location, name and speciality.

According to one of its creators, the site will make it easier for doctors to refer patients to the right person and will give patients a choice of to whom they are referred.

“We are well aware that medicine in general is lagging behind the curve on the IT end of things and there was a real potential to harness the power of computers and IT in improving efficiencies,” said Dr Shane McKeogh, a GP based in Drimnagh who has developed GPBuddy.ie along with Dr Darach O’Ciardha, a GP from Clondalkin.

The site has been available for GPs to use since May, but Dr McKeogh said they felt it was ready to formally launch. He said 930 of the country’s 2,500 GPs were registered with the site and they were approaching a number of medical organisations to ensure their members’ details were listed.

Those listed on the site pay an annual fee and can access their listings at any time to change details.

“There are existing paper-based directories and some people will prefer to use that,” said Dr McKeogh. “Hopefully, those that do use the site will find it gives them more scope for answering questions, plus GPs can print off the page with details and hand it to the patient, which is far more convenient.” He said a publicly accessible directory could also be developed.