ShannonDoc got ‘one month of calls in one day’ over Christmas

SHANNONDOC dealt with the equivalent of one month’s average calls in just one day during an unprecedented demand for the out-of-hours GP service during Christmas.

The Mid-West service for non-emergency care experienced a huge surge in patients contacting the service over the Christmas period. During the peak times ShannonDoc dealt with approximately one patient every minute.

Over the four days during Christmas from December 24th to 27th, ShannonDoc provided 2,280 doctor consultations, up from 1,641 in 2021, representing a 41% increase across the Mid-West. Within that, Co. Clare saw a 49% increase, North Tipperary was up 41% and Limerick city and county was up 35%.

The out-of-hours service managed to provide 40% more GP appointments when compared to last year, with a significant portion of patients presenting with respiratory illnesses.

A spokesperson stated the Christmas period is always ShannonDoc’s busiest, with additional doctors and nurses rostered to deal with the increase in patient volumes.

This year, the service rostered more doctors than previous years, with a 30% increase in medical manpower on duty.

“However, the patient surge across the Christmas period is thus far unprecedented, with patient volumes contacting the service amounting to almost three times more than last year’s levels.

“On one day alone, over 12,500 inbound calls were made to the ShannonDoc switch board. These are incredible numbers which amount to almost one month of calls in just one day.”

Of the total patients dealt with by ShannonDoc, 81% were categorised as being routine, with the remainder of patients prioritised as urgent.

There has been a particular increase in routine patients over the Christmas period when compared to normal trends over the year.

“Patients requiring specific Covid-19 advice and test referrals reduced considerably when compared to last year.

“This year patients are seeking direct consultations with a doctor for a range of illnesses such as stomach bugs, flus, colds and other respiratory illnesses.

“ShannonDoc services are also busier across essential areas including mental health calls, nursing home calls, palliative care visits, dental calls, Garda calls and verification of deaths,” the spokesperson stated.

“As a result of the patient surge, during periods at peak times on Monday 26th and Tuesday 27th, the service was operating above its maximum capacity.

“In some instances, this resulted in patients having difficulty accessing the phone lines. Due to the unprecedented call volumes, it is inevitable there will be longer than usual wait times and there may be difficulties in accessing the phone lines during such peak times.”

The spokesperson added, “Unfortunately, we remain very concerned about the winter period ahead. GP surgeries in recent weeks have experienced an exponential surge, which has carried through to the out-of-hours service.

“ShannonDoc is an urgent out of hours GP service. We are urging our patients to only contact the service if they really need to.

“Our guidance to the public is to please contact the service only if they require urgent medical attention and if they cannot safely wait to see their own GP during normal surgery hours.”

Additionally, ShannonDoc advises the public to visit https://www2.hse.ie/under-the-weather/, a helpful online guidance for patients. Many common, routine illnesses can be treated safely at home without having to see a doctor and patients are encouraged to use this online guidance as well.

Deirdre Culligan of the Reinstate Shannondoc Committee, said Ennis was the only treatment centre that was opened in Clare during the Christmas period as Kilrush and Ennistymon were by appointment only.

She said some patients were not given the choice of going to Kilrush.

On Tuesday, December 27, she claimed that the Ennis Treatment Centre was fully booked out until 6am the following morning but patients were still being referred to this centre.

“We have been informed that many people have had difficulty getting through on the phones and others have told us that they had long waits in the car park in Ennis before finally being diverted to Kilrush centre.

“To the staff at ShannonDoc who worked through Christmas despite very difficult circumstances to ensure patients were seen we say a massive thank you.

“Once again patients from West Clare have been disproportionately affected with no options but to travel to Ennis,” she said.

Last February, she recalled the HSE outlined there were 46 Clare GPs participating in Shannondoc. If this is the case, she wondered was is possible to roster more Clare GPs to deal with the expected huge surge in demand during the festive season.