Tag Archives: Reinstate ShannonDoc Committee

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 …

SHANNONDOC has defended its service after official figures confirmed a drop in patient response times from last January to February when it treated almost 1,000 fewer patients. Figures obtained by The Clare Champion from the HSE through the Freedom of Information Act revealed 6,069 urgent and routine cases were seen by Shannondoc last January, which dropped to 5,074 a month later. In spite of seeing 995 fewer patients, 1,226 patients were seen within 30 minutes in January compared to 573 in February – a drop in percentage terms from 20.20% to 11.29%; 2,894 patients were seen within an hour in January compared to 1,685 in February – a fall from 47.68% to 33.21%; 4,403 patients were seen within 90 minutes in January compared to 2,780 a month later – a decline from 72.55% to 54.79%. The number of patients seen within two hours totalled 4,771 in January compared to 3,588 in February – a drop from 78.61% to 70.71%; 5,225 …

UP to 46 Clare general practitioners are participating in ShannonDoc’s out-of-hours services, according to the HSE’s Mid-West Community Healthcare. The level of cover provided by Clare GPs was queried by the Reinstate ShannonDoc Committee (RSC) recently. Noeleen Moran of The Reinstate Shannondoc Committee (RSC) claimed there was no GP available in Clare after midnight from January 7 to January 12 inclusive. In addition to this period, Ms Moran stated there was no doctor in Ennis after midnight on January 4, 12 or 14 either. “Not alone are centres in Ennistymon and Kilrush closed, centres at Ennis and Miltown Malbay and are not operational on some nights after midnight. The out- of-hours service in Limerick is being stretched to cover the whole of county Clare as well. Ms Moran said the RSC find it hard to accept there are as many as 46 GPs participating in providing out-of-hours GP care in Clare. “If this was the case, we would not have …

SHANNONDOC insists Clare patients continued to receive an out-of-hours service, despite there recently being no GP in the county on five successive nights after midnight, writes Dan Danaher. Between January 3 and 14, ShannonDoc never reached more than 32% of total doctor capacity available from midnight to 8am. An average of five patients in Clare were treated every night between midnight and 8am by one of ShannonDoc’s remote or mobile doctors. Noeleen Moran of The Reinstate Shannondoc Commmittee (RSC) claimed there was no GP available in Clare after midnight from January 7 to January 12 inclusive. In addition to this period, Ms Moran stated there was no doctor in Ennis after midnight on January 4, 12 or 14 either. “Not alone are centres in Shannon, Ennistymon and Kilrush closed, centres at Ennis, Miltown Malbay and Killaloe are not operational on some nights after midnight,” claimed Ms Moran. “The out-of-hours service in Limerick is being stretched to cover the whole of …