Fresh hope is being expressed that scaled back Shannon Doc services in Clare will at least be partly reinstated.
It comes as government officials have pledged to meet with the GP Co-operative to dicsuss options – more than a year on from controversial changes which saw out-of-hours services curtailed in the West and East of the county.
In October 2016, there was outrage after Shannon Doc announced it was curtailing services.
The move saw the Kilrush/Ennistymon services relocated to Miltown Malbay on weekdays, while the Killaloe centre has since been serviced by a mobile doctor.
Since then, there have been repeated calls for full services to be brought back – with many expressing concern about the distance patients would have to travel for care.
In a series of public meetings, which also involved Shannon Doc, issues pertaining to VAT and Visas were highlighted as obstacles to the recruitment of GPs
Now, Department of Justice officials have committed to talks with Shannon Doc to discuss options on how to address this.
Deirdre Culligan from the reinstatement of Shannon Doc Committee believes the current situation can’t be allowed continue
However, this optimism isn’t shared by Shannon Doc.
They are pointing to what they call good satisfaction with the service, based on their reviews.
The GP co-op also says the situation in Clare is one example of a wider problem nationally, and that the necessary action to maintain effective services with the available resources was taken in 2016.
Dr Pat Morrissey is the chairperson of Shannon Doc – he isn’t convinced new talks will have any impact.
