Limerick's Shannondoc appeals for patience from public ahead of busy Christmas period

SHANNONDOC has urged the public to be patient with the service across Christmas as it deals with a spike in activity.

Staff at the urgent out-of-hours GP service - which has bases in Dooradoyle, Newcastle West and Hospital - are gearing up for their busiest time of year, with around 10,000 patients presenting between Friday, December 23 and Tuesday, January 3, 2023.

In this period, the service will operate for 238 of the total 288 hours – its staff manning the phones and clinics for 83% of time during that period. 

The GP co-op typically deals with about 2,500 patients out-of-hours per week, but this will more or less double over the Christmas when GP practices will be closed for public holidays and weekends, its chair, Dr Ailish Kenny stated.

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"It’s been a very busy year again for us and we’re readying ourselves, as always, for one last push over the Christmas period, our busiest time of the year," she added, "We have brought in additional resources to deal with the high patient volumes, but we still predict that patient numbers will be significantly higher than normal levels over the Christmas period."

Dr Kenny, however, urged patience on behalf of the public while the service works through the Christmas schedule.

"We will have very heavy call volumes across these weeks and staff will be under severe pressure so we would ask that the public be patient as our team will be absolutely doing their best. The key thing is that anyone who needs to be seen, will be seen and we will prioritise cases that are more urgent. Above all else, we want people to stay safe and well over Christmas," she added.

"For people in need of ShannonDoc’s out-of-hours services, our advice is that if it is a routine matter, please visit your own GP during normal operating times but if it is an urgent but non-emergency care issue, please contact us and we will get you the earliest possible appointment," Dr Kenny concluded.

The ShannonDoc telephone number is 0818 123 500. No patients should present at a ShannonDoc centre without an appointment. ShannonDoc is not a Walk-in service.