Family doctors should be given financial incentives by the Government to provide more services and relieve pressure on hospital emergency units, the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP) has urged.
In a submission sent on Thursday to the Minister for Health and the HSE, it also called for GPs to have direct access to 24-hour diagnostic facilities.
The association said “in-house” diagnostic facilities should be put in place in out-of-hours GP co-operatives which deliver out-of-hours care.
It also urged the Government to introduce supports and financial incentives to facilitate GPs in delivering chronic disease management and to put in place improvements in GP access to dieticians, pulmonary rehabilitation and other chronic disease supports.
The NAGP, which claims to represent about 1,400 GPs, argued that the GP co-operative model should be extended to all areas. It also called on the Government to support the expansion of services provided by such co-operatives.
It also proposed increasing integration between hospital emergency departments and general practice and it urged the Government to support GPs in accessing the training and resources necessary to expand the provision of relevant services during normal working hours.
The NAGP said there was “international evidence to demonstrate that integrating GP co-operatives with emergency departments substantially improves emergency department utilisation, reduces self-referral and supports the emergency department in providing more efficient care to higher risk patients”.
“The out-of-hours co-ops provide a model that is capable of playing an extended role in emergency and out-of-hours care. General practice has a well-trained workforce which is in a position to take on roles in expanding and managing acute clinical care.”
The NAGP said that many GPs rightly complained that hospital emergency departments were “unfairly advantaged” because of the access they had to diagnostic and in-patient facilities.
It said this put GPs at a clinical disadvantage in terms of providing an appropriate level of care to their patients.
“Failure to facilitate direct GP access to diagnostics creates an illogical situation where general practitioners are forced to refer patients to already overcrowded emergency departments for simple diagnostic tests.
“This process places undue stress on GPs, emergency department staff and patients. International evidence clearly shows that increased GP access to diagnostics leads to reduced diagnostic delay, reduced referrals to emergency departments and out-patient departments, reduced unnecessary referrals and improved quality of referrals.”
