Local GP speaks out about challenges facing general practice

Local GP Dr Martin Daly has spoken out about the significant challenges facing general practice, particularly in rural and deprived areas.

According to the Irish College of General Practitioners, more than three quarters of the approximately 2,500 GP practices in Ireland have closed their lists to new patients.

Speaking to RTÉ as part of a piece on this issue, GPs from around the country said they being overrun by heavy workloads, with many practices struggling to attract younger GPs. As well as a global shortage of doctors, the number of GPs that are trained or recruited in Ireland has not been increased in line with Ireland’s population, which has grown by around 50% over the last 30 years.

In July 2022, Dr Martin Daly and his wife nearly closed their GP practice in the town of Ballygar in County Galway, the report said.

They had not been able to take a family holiday in three years because they could not get temporary cover.

When Dr Daly qualified as a GP, it was normal for a rural doctor to work 60 or 70 hours per week.

"The younger GP will not do that and rightly so," Dr Daly told RTÉ’s Eithne Dodd.

"They have an entitlement to have time off for their families, for education, for sick leave, for maternity leave and also to take holidays like anyone else in society."

"We’ve been very lucky to recruit a young partner in the last year," Dr Daly said, "that has saved this practice."

Dr Daly stressed that the demand for a GP also impacts on reception and nursing staff within the practice "Ultimately it impacts on our patients who don't understand why 10-15 years ago they were able to turn up to our surgery on the same day without an appointment and be seen, whereas now they may have to wait for a routine appointment up to two weeks to be seen and that is a change in culture and it is something that people find difficult."