ShannonDoc in Hospital:  ‘Needs to be reinstated soon as possible’ - Niall Collins

PLANS to reinstate the ShannonDoc out-of-hours GP service in Hospital town have been welcomed by Deputy Collins.

“The HSE has confirmed they will reinstate the service, however, I am concerned about the ongoing lack of service being delivered from Hospital. This pre-dates Covid. This is a very big issue. It is a hugely valuable service used by people in Hospital and many surrounding areas,” said Deputy Collins.

In correspondence with the Fianna Fail TD, a HSE employee informed him: “At a recent meeting with ShannonDoc, it was confirmed that they are reviewing their current level of service provision on a regular basis and will re-instate the service in Hospital as soon as possible in the context of ensuring the health and safety of staff and patients and Covid-19 requirements. ShannonDoc is monitoring the situation on a daily basis and will reinstate the service as soon as possible.”

While Deputy Collins welcomes this he states that communities across south east Limerick are concerned that there is an “attempt by the HSE to close this by stealth”. “I am working to ensure this does not happen,” he said.

In response to Covid-19 a temporary consolidated model of service has been implemented by ShannonDoc to operate from five overnight treatment centres across the Mid-West - Nenagh, Limerick, Newcastle West, Ennis and Miltown Malbay.

One person contacted Deputy Collins to say: “Of late we have had occasions where we have had to go into A&E for things that would have been dealt with before at ShannonDoc. It is crazy to make people travel into a high density population area where Covid-19 cases have been confirmed in their hundreds when they could be seen in an area where there was two cases. The elderly and those with mental health issues need the ShannonDoc service.”

Cllr Martin Ryan made this point on A&E at a Cappamore-Kilmallock municipal meeting in February. “If a person goes to ShannonDoc in Limerick it is as easy to go around the roundabout to A&E and that’s one more person in A&E,” he said.

Cllr Ger Mitchell has a motion down for this Tuesday’s meeting asking the council to write to the HSE and ShannonDoc to seek an update and full clarity on “this essential and necessary service which serves a huge area and what are its future plans”.