THE WESTDOC out-of-hours GP scheme finally began in Connemara at the weekend after months of controversy.
There were major concerns in the area over initial plans to introduce a limited service with only one doctor on duty, but following a strong community campaign, the service has started with two doctors working for 10 weekends this year.
Manager of Westdoc, Siobhan O'Sullivan, explained that the normal GP co-op model did not work in large widespread, isolated areas such as Connemara and they had to look at a slightly different option.
"We had the same problems in Belmullet and Achill. One option for these areas is a helicopter service but that is far too costly. If we can't make it attractive in terms of office hours for GPs, they will not want to work in these areas. A lot of new GPs are women who do not want to work every second night," she said.
Ms O'Sullivan said she met representatives from the Connemara area to discuss their concerns about the planned introduction of the scheme with only one doctor. With many people living up to an hour and a half from the nearest hospital and ambulance base, the local people felt there was a need for at least two doctors to provide out-of-hours cover.
Local councillor Seosamh Ó Chuaig approached Ms O'Sullivan on behalf of the community to ascertain the cost of providing a second doctor - she told him the cost for the 10 weekends this year would be in the region of €20,000. Cllr Ó Chuaig brought his case to local community development organisation Cumas, which agreed to fund the second doctor for the first year of the service.
Ms O'Sullivan said: "Once the service is running for a year, we will have actual data and a sense of what the demand is out there, ie are there situations that we would not have been able to cover safely with one doctor?
"We have signed a memorandum of understanding with Cumas and we will be making our data available to them. We will make a judgment based on the data whether one doctor is sufficient or there is a need for two going forward.
"Westdoc could not stand over any service that was not clinically safe and if we find there is a need for two doctors, it will be up to us to sort it out along with the local GPs."
Cllr Ó Chuaig said local people had been extremely worried about having only one doctor on duty out of hours in a huge area stretching from Carna to Lettermullen and Rossaveal where the roads were bad.
"The service has now started with two doctors and we are very satisfied with this. It has been a very good community campaign and our hope is that Westdoc will continue with two doctors, but that will depend on their analysis of demand for the 10 weeks covered this year," he said. Now up and running in the west since 2002, Westdoc is operated on a partnership basis between GPs and the HSE West.
