Irish Medical Organisation, Annual General Meeting, The Europe Hotel and Resort, Killarney, Co Kerry, 24-26 April 2025
The Chair of the IMO GP committee has told the HSE CEO that engagement between the Organisation and the Executive was required on the transfer of work from hospitals to GPs.
Dr Tadhg Crowley made the statement during the question and answer session following Mr Bernard Gloster’s address to the IMO AGM on 26 April.
“We appreciate our hospital colleagues are under huge pressure,” Dr Crowley said.
“But the work transfer coming into us is something that we need, as the IMO, to sit down with you to negotiate and talk about.”
Dr Crowley also said talks were needed on the number of clinical guidelines being issued to GPs without any corresponding increase in resources.
“It continues to happen, almost on a monthly basis,” he told the HSE CEO. “And it is causing huge problems for GPs.”
Mr Gloster agreed to engagement, pointing to the structured chronic disease management programme in general practice as an example of what can be achieved with constructive dialogue.
During the earlier national GP meeting, a motion was passed calling on the HSE to engage on “the continued increase” of unresourced work being placed upon GPs.
The motion was proposed by the IMO GP committee and put forward by Dr Maitiú Ó Faoláin.
He told the meeting that research has shown that every 30-second addition to a consultation in a day results in an approximate 4 per cent decrease in the number of patients a GP can see in a year.
Speaking to the Medical Independent (MI), Dr Ó Faoláin said: “So something even very, very small for
the GP to do – while we are able to do it – has an impact on our services as well. We are as stretched as every
other department.”
However, he added it was possible for general practice to take on additional responsibility, as long as it is undertaken in a structured manner, in consultation with the IMO.
The GP meeting passed motions calling for negotiations with health management on a comprehensive women’s health programme and a “fully resourced” programme for obesity in general practice.
Regarding a women’s health programme, Dr Aideen Brides, who put forward the motion on behalf of the GP committee, told MI that while progress has been made in recent years, deficits remain.
Dr Brides said currently the “real gap” is in the 36-55 year age group, “from a contraceptive point of view.”
She also noted the absence of structured care for
menopause.
“If it was resourced properly, if there was a structured programme for it, we could absolutely deliver it where patients need it most,” Dr Brides said.
Other motions at the national GP meeting included a call for engagement on new e-health and IT developments and for the HSE to develop a national system of shared care protocols for specified medications.
Meanwhile, the report from the strategic review of general practice is due to be published shortly, MI has learned.
The review, which was undertaken by the HSE and Department of Health, is examining GP training, GP capacity, out-of-hours service reform, the e-health agenda, and the financial support model for general practice, among other issues.
In a recent interview with this newspaper, the Irish College of GPs CEO Mr Fintan Foy said: “This is something we are very involved in and we’re aware there’ll be the first report on that very shortly… the new Government are committed to it, as are the Department of Health. So we are expecting something on that very soon.”
A Department of Health spokesperson declined to state when the report would be issued.
However, the spokesperson told MI: “The review will identify the arrangements necessary to improve the current system of GP care as part of a primary care-focused health service.”
They added that “significant increases in investment in general practice” in recent years had helped to make the specialty in Ireland a more attractive career choice for doctors.
“Annual intake to the GP training scheme has been increased by approximately 80 per cent from 2019 to 2024, with 350 new-entrant training places made available from 2024. The number of GP graduates has increased in recent years and will continue to increase in the coming years because of the increased number of new-entrant training places.
“A number of measures have been taken in recent years to increase the number of GPs practising in the State and, thereby, improve access to GP services for all patients across the country.”
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