UPDATE: HSE starts interviewing candidates for new GP in Westport

The race to find a new GP for Westport after the sudden departure of established GP, Dr Ita Mullaghy, took a step forward this week as the HSE confirmed to The Mayo News that yesterday the public health body had started to interview candidates for the vacant role.

The HSE went on to say that “if a candidate is selected for the position following the interview process, it is hoped that they will be in a position to take up duty on December, 1 2026 so as to ensure that continuity of care is maintained.”

Keen observers will notice the words “if” and “hoped” in the HSE’s response to The Mayo News and wonder what weight to put on them, given that the six week timeframe to December 1 is tight, especially when you take into consideration the three month notice period that currently employed GPs would have to give and the need to find, open and equip a GP practice from scratch in Westport.

Yesterday, Dr Mullaghy revealed that "as per my HSE contract, a three-month written notice was required. So I had no alternative but to submit my resignation, as I had not secured a premises from which to provide a service to my patients.”

She also stated that “"as my post had already been advertised, and I could not rescind my resignation.”

The HSE did not respond to questions from The Mayo News as to whether or not Dr Mullaghy could have rescinded her resignation.

The fate of private patients also remains unclear as a new GP has not yet been appointed and the HSE previously told The Mayo News that “the new GP will be free to see private patients, and may decide to take on the departing GP’s private patients, but will not be obliged to do so. The HSE has no role in providing GP Services for private patients.”

The main concern of one private patient of the closing practice, Joe Kelly, is his ongoing prescription. Mr Kelly receives a three-month prescription that must be renewed every three months, and without a GP he has no way of getting it renewed when it runs out.

"If I'm sick, for argument's sake, or whatever, what do I do? When my basic prescription runs out, what do I do?" he asked.

His predicament echoes the experience of many of the other private patients who await impatiently for clarity on whether a new GP will be appointed and whether they need to find a new GP themselves.