Tag Archives: Shannondoc

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 …

A WEST Clare patient was directed to seek GP out-of-hours treatment outside their own catchment area, a local councillor has claimed. Speaking at a recent HSE West Forum meeting, Councillor Cillian Murphy said he was contacted by a person in West Clare who stated they were directed to other centres in Ennis, Limerick or Nenagh instead of Kilrush. “If you want to shut a service in an area, the easiest thing to do is to refer people onto another service in a different area. This reduces your client base for the service in the area.” He said it is not good enough to expect people in West Clare to drive to Miltown for an out-of-hours GP service when the Kilrush centre is not operational. He proposed there should be some way of improving this service for West Clare patients. Speaking to the Clare Champion, he said it takes longer to travel from Kildysart to Miltown than it is to go …

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 …

SHANNONDOC has refused a request to meet members of the local authority, over their concerns about its level of out-of-hours GP cover. It has also defended its track record, saying that it has treated around 700,000 patients from Clare since the service began in 2002. At the January meeting of the Council, a request was made by Councillor Tony O’Brien that representatives of the service be invited to answer questions as to why access to some of its centres had been reduced. The Killaloe man said the matter was of particular concern, given the support the service receives from the taxpayer.  In correspondence seen by The Champion, ShannonDoc turned down the request saying such a meeting would be inconsistent with its policies, given that it has a defined Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the Health Service Executive (HSE). “The company has a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the HSE to provide an out of hours GP service with detailed target …

THE provision of out-of-hours GP services in the Mid-West will be examined as part of a wider strategic review of general practice, Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler has announced. Responding to questions in the Seanad from Senator Martin Conway, Minister Butler stated preparatory work for this review has already started this year. Since the emergence of Covid-19, the HSE provided out-of-hours co-operatives with a support grant to ensure continuity of care. Minister Butler confirmed funding for Shannondoc was increased to over €6.8 million in 2020. “Where there is increased demand in certain areas, Shannondoc can provide support from other treatment centres, to ensure services are provided where needed most,” said Minister Butler. “The service is demand-led, and the HSE has advised that Shannondoc has continued to meet the targets for urgent and routine calls set out under its service level agreement. “The Government is committed to increasing the number of GPs working nationwide and …

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 …

CONCERN about the closure of out-of-hours GP centres in Kilrush, Shannon and Killaloe was expressed at a Clare County Council meeting on Monday, writes Dan Danaher. Citing the lack of an any other business item on the council agenda, Councillor Tony O’Brien told the meeting he wanted to raise a number of issues concerning ShannonDoc, which were highlighted in last week’s Clare Champion. The Fianna Fáil Councillor outlined his concern about the closure of ShannonDoc centres in Kilrush, Shannon and Killaloe in view of the allocation of €5.2 million in taxpayers’ money. He proposed ShannonDoc management should be invited to make a presentation at a council meeting and answer questions about why these centres remain closed and what services they are providing for public funding they are receiving. “I believe ShannonDoc made a substantial operating surplus in 2020.” Council chairman, PJ Ryan advised Councillor O’Brien he was fully entitled to table this proposal at the next local authority meeting as …