Rising population putting pressure on GPs, says top HSE official

THE country’s rising population is putting more pressure on GP services in the west of Ireland, a top HSE official has admitted.

Tony Canavan, Regional Executive Officer, HSE West and North West and Executive Chair of the Regional Health Forum West, has said that the rising population was a ‘a significant factor’ in the demand for GP services.

The number of doctors being accepted for training under the GP Training Scheme throughout the country has increased incrementally in recent years from 236 in 2021, 258 in 2022, 285 in 2023 to 350 in 2024.

Although the number of trainee GPs is likely to increase, Mr Canavan said it would take time for it to have any significant effect on demand.

Cllr Michael Kilcoyne, Vice-Chairman of the HSE Regional Forum West, expressed concern that trainee GPs were ‘disappearing shortly after they’re qualified’.

“The population is increasing on one side, the number of doctors is dropping off on the other side. I don’t know what it’s like here, but where I come from in Mayo people have to wait six or seven days to get an appointment,” said Cllr Kilcoyne.

Cllr Kilcoyne asked whether any proposals had been considered to mandate newly qualified doctors to remain in the country for a number of years after they qualify.

Mr Canavan said that similar proposals have been considered ‘on a number of occasions’ but said it was not favoured by the HSE.

“It’s difficult enough to implement, and I’m not sure if it would be a solution to our problems in any case,” he said.

“I think you’re right. There has been a significant population increase in the country, there are significant demands generally on doctors and including doctors in general practice, but it’s not true to say there aren’t more doctors, there are more doctors, there are more general practitioners now and there are more hospital doctors being trained and retained within the system as well.

“The difficulty is keeping pace with the demand from the population and the growth in the population as well,” he added.

Cllr Kilcoyne accepted Mr Canavan’s reply, but said: “Two or three years ago, you could get a doctor within a couple of hours. Now you have to wait four or five days.”

The Independent councillor added: “Either they are working shorter hours or they are taking much longer with each patient, or there is a huge number of increase in population, or the population is much sicker. Which? I don’t know. But it’s causing a problem.”

Mr Canavan said the increasing population was ‘a significant factor’, adding that the expansion of free GP visits and the ageing population was also putting pressure on services.

In a lengthy reply to a question tabled by Cllr Kilcoyne at the AGM of the HSE Regional Forum West, John Fitzmaurice, Chief Officer with Community Healthcare West, said that filling vacancies in rural areas was their ‘main area of concern’.

Mr Fitzmaurice said there were currently ‘a small number’ of vacancies in the North West, which it is hoping to fill in coming months.

“In an effort to deal with this matter, Community Healthcare West recently collaborated with the Irish College of General Practitioners to attract candidates to work in rural GP Practices through a “Rural Fellowship Programme”. This allows doctors to work under the supervision of qualified GPs where time is also allocated for academic study,” wrote Mr Fitzmaurice.

“It is a two-year programme following which it is hoped that successful candidates would choose to work in rural General Practice. Two positions were approved for our area but unfortunately, neither have been filled to date.”

When left with no other option, the HSE has employed locum GPs in vacant practices in locations including Charlestown and Achill.

The Irish College of GPs (ICGP) Non-EU Rural GP programme has also been used to employ non-EU doctors with trained GPs in rural practices who are struggling to attract and retain GPs and locums.