An out-of-hours emergency medical service in the west has sent doctors to visit only one in 12 patients over the last four years.
More than 90 per cent of patients from Galway city and south Connemara have had to travel to the headquarters of Westdoc, according to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act.
However, the Health Service Executive (HSE) West says that "quality service" could be delivered at the co-operative's headquarters in Liosban, Galway, and points out that the grouping has also initiated a mobile service in parts of Mayo.
Westdoc was established as a general practitioners' co-operative service in 2002, with support from the HSE West. More than 40,000 patients in Galway city and county have used the service since its inception, at an average of 25 cases per evening.
The Liosban industrial estate headquarters on the east side of the city is said to be working effectively as an accident and emergency centre.
However, only 9 per cent of the 40,000 cases have involved home visits or visits by doctors to the scene of an accident.
Prior to the service's initiation, a pilot out-of-hours scheme provided a Westdoc GP for patients who arrived at their regular clinic. However, figures released to Nuacht TG4 show that no service has been provided in local medical clinics since Westdoc began operations.
