Tag Archives: Rural Practice Allowance

  Kilmihil-based GP Michael Harty has been selected as the official Clare GP candidate to contest the forthcoming general election. The Clare Champion can reveal that Dr Harty will officially launch his general election campaign for a “rural revolution” at a public meeting in Corofin community hall this Tuesday night at 8pm. Speaking to the Clare Champion, Dr Harty confirmed he has been selected as the “no doctor, no village” candidate as part of GPs national campaign to restore vital financial supports to rural practice. While no other doctors have officially announced they are making a Dáil bid, Dr Harty may be joined by other medical colleagues supporting this national campaign in Galway, Mayo and other counties in the West of Ireland over the coming days. His dramatic entry into the Dáil race comes despite a two-week deadline presented to Government deputies to secure a rescue package for rural practice at a public meeting in Corofin last Thursday. They were …

A North Clare-based GP has launched a High Court action over the Health Service Executive’s decision that he does not qualify for payments under a scheme designed to ensure services are provided to medical card-holders in rural areas. The action has been brought by Dr Liam Glynn, a GP working out of Ballyvaughan and Fanore, arising out of a decision by the HSE earlier this year that he no longer qualified for payments under a scheme known as the Rural Practice Allowance. The scheme applies where a doctor lives and practices in a centre with a population of less than 500 people and where there is not a town with a population of 1,500 or more within a three-mile radius of that. He provides medical services  from Ballyvaughan Medical Centre and Fanore Dispensary, and makes numerous house calls to patients every week. The HSE in correspondence with Dr Glynn said its decision was based on the fact that Dr Glynn …