Maguire welcomes 10% increase in rural GP allowance but wants primary care centres for North Sligo fast-tracked
Drumcliffe and Grange primary care centres awaiting development –
Cllr. Sinéad Maguire has today (Wednesday 24th April) welcomed a 10% increase in the GP rural practice allowance from 2020 and has said that it will make rural GP’s practices more sustainable in parts of Sligo. However, Cllr. Maguire argued that the move must be accompanied by the long awaited multi-disciplinary primary care centres in Drumcliffe and Grange and she called upon the HSE to fast-track their delivery. The increase in the rural practice allowance is aimed at attracting and retaining GPs in rural medical practices so that patients have access to medical treatment locally.
Cllr. Maguire said, “It is essential that GP services are retained right across the county, in urban and rural areas. There are three primary care centres in Sligo out of a total of 126 nationally, with two waiting to proceed in Grange and Drumcliffe. Attracting and retaining GP’s is essential to good healthcare provision in rural areas. Alongside this, primary care centres must be established where GPs can operate from, as part of a multi-disciplinary approach to providing healthcare out of a central location.”
“Without a Primary Care centre, north County Sligo is very poorly served. GPs in the Drumcliffe Family practice are a part of the primary care team in North Sligo. They are housed in a completely unsuitable building which is not fit for purpose. This makes it very difficult to provide a high standard of care to the sick, our ageing rural population, and the vulnerable. Having a primary health centre means that patients can most often receive the care they need locally without entering the hospital system.”
The GP rural practice allowance is part of the new GPs contract announced by government which includes a 40% increase in funding (€210m) over the next four years and aims to attract more doctors into general practice. Since measures introduced in 2009 are seeing results. While 120 GPs were recruited in 2009, a total of 202 were recruited in 2019, a 70% increase in ten years.
ENDS
For further information, please contact Sinéad Maguire on 087 1164 361
