Aontú Leader Peadar Tóibín has responded to a new report that reveals many single GP surgeries will not be able to replace retiring doctors.
The Meath West TD said:
“Meath has the lowest number of doctors per capita in the country. As chair of the Save Navan Hospital Campaign I am acutely aware that many of the people using the Emergency Department every day are there because they cant get a doctor. I have had pregnant mothers contact me because they can’t get a GP. It can take up to 10 days to get a doctor’s appointment even if you have a GP. One man I know contacted 12 GP surgeries in one day and could not get an appointment. Many people who are from Dublin who have lived in Meath for 20 years are still using their original GP in Dublin because they cant get a GP in this county.
Parts of Mayo, west Donegal, Limerick, Tipperary, Wexford, Leitrim and Galway are facing a GP crisis as many older doctors are retiring and not being replaced, meaning communities will be left with no local GP to cater for any health needs and they may need to travel further to access care. It’s a heart breaking situation as the GP service was one last part of the Health Service that was working properly. There is a slow-motion car crash happening in rural areas when it comes to GP access.
We are not training enough GPs for the population increase and many GPs are emigrating because pay, terms and conditions are better abroad. In 2022, 442 Irish doctors were issued with temporary work visas for Australia, while others went to Canada. That is more than half of the cohort of 725 who graduated in 2021. A survey released in the Irish Journal of Medical Science in 2023 outlined that in 2021, of the 2016 cohort of doctors awarded Certificates of Satisfactory Completion of Specialist Training (CSCST), 68% are employed in Ireland and 32% are abroad or unknown – a third are not working in the Irish health service.
Incredibly according to a Dail Parliamentary Question that I submitted, in 2024, the number of the number non-EU Medicine undergraduates in Irish Medicine schools is now 51%. The reason for this is, that that non EU students pay up to €250,000 for their degree which is far more than the state pay for Irish students. The Universities are dependent on these students for income denied to them by the government. The problem with this is that many of those students will want to practice in their home countries. They will be lost to Ireland. Talk about extra places in Universities is meaningless unless these places lead to extra doctors for Ireland.
Aontú recently launched Operation Shamrock to try and bring these essential workers back. Much of this will depend on the HSE patient to Doctor ratios being brought up to a level where professionals want to work for the health service and are not treated simply as mudguards for Ministerial incompetence. We need to prioritise places in Irish Medical Schools for students who will work in the Irish health service”.
