Dr Patricia Henaghan has been a GP in Louisburgh, Co Mayo, since 1976. Since 1989, she has been the only family doctor in a huge area stretching from the foothills of Croagh Patrick to Killary Harbour. Her practice extends to 200 square miles.
For six years until 1995, she worked every weekend and every night as well as carrying a normal daily workload without any assistance. Dr Henaghan managed between two and three weeks' holiday per year during this time; otherwise she was always available to her patients. Holidays could never be taken during the summer months because the practice gets busy with tourists and there is a seasonal increase in road and other accidents.
When she fractured her leg she had to continue working while on crutches for three weeks; it was particularly stressful trying to find a locum when her children were born. Dr Henaghan deals with at least one call each evening. She does between two and three house calls per week after normal surgery hours and she attends an urgent night call (between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.) at least three times a month. Since 1997, thanks to the WHB's onerous rota fund, she has had the "luxury" of 24 hours' cover each week and one weekend off per month. The fund covers approximately two-thirds of the actual cost of employing the locum.