A shortage of GPs in rural areas is affecting SouthDoc, the out-of-hours GP service, in the Iveragh Peninsula.
The Medical Director of SouthDoc, Dr Gary Stack, says the area has fewer GPs than it had a number of years ago.
There’ve been some nights when a GP hasn’t been available overnight mid-week in Cahersiveen.
He says despite this there’ll always be someone to answer a call and give advice through the SouthDoc service; there are also SouthDoc bases in Killarney and Kenmare.
Dr Stack says it’s harder now to get GPs to work the red-eye shifts, which are nights and weekends.
He’s hopeful a locum has been secured to serve the Iveragh area for the next two months:
Meanwhile, Dr Gary Stack says emigration is also affecting the numbers of GPs in rural parts.
He says hundreds are travelling to Australia each year.
He says work needs to be done now to attract doctors to Ireland, to tackle the issues posed by emigration as well as retirements:
