It is unsafe to ask GPs to work longer hours and extra days, according to Monaghan GP Illona Duffy.
The HSE has asked GPs to work longer daily shifts and open on Saturdays for the next four weeks as the health system comes under unprecedented strain.
The request was made late on Friday afternoon as doctors were preparing to wind down for Christmas – and GPs are warning that here are already “overworked and under-resourced”.
It comes as hospitals deal with a surge in COVID, RSV and flu cases.
As of 8am this morning, there were 737 COVID patients in Irish hospitals with 32 in intensive care.
Safety
On Late Breakfast with Stefanie Preissner this morning, Monaghan GP Illona Duffy said the extended hours will see GPS working up until 9pm or 10pm each night.
“You have to safeguard,” she said.
“We limit the number of hours that a pilot or the driver of a lorry or truck can do for safety reasons
“So, we have got to look at protecting General Practice and when I say that I mean not just the GPs but all our staff.
“I totally understand how frustrating it is if you are trying to see a GP or trying to get a GP but you can’t blame GPs for this you must blame those who are making the healthcare decisions.”
Planning
Dr Duffy said she is “fully aware that we are facing into a real crisis” but the HSE request is particularly frustrating because doctors “predicted this might happen months ago”.
At the time, she said doctors asked the health service to put a plan in place.
“Yet here we are, just as everything closes for Christmas, the announcement is made that GPs are to be requested to run these clinics,” she said.
“I don’t think we’re overly happy because I don’t think there is anybody in this country who doesn’t realise there is a GP crisis.
“It is becoming harder to see your GP and that is if you are lucky enough to have a GP because as we know there are thousands of people out there who have no GP.”
Under the Weather
Dr Duffy said the most effective thing the HSE could have done was run a “robust public information campaign” teaching people how to self-manage minor illnesses when they fall sick.
She urged anyone who is feeling unwell or has a sick child to check the HSE Under the Weather service before making a GP appointment.
“What we’re saying is, with this massive demand that is on general practice, especially over Christmas and now as we face into today and the first normal working week again, it is important that those who really need to be seen - those who are really sick - are seeing us and not ending up in A&E,” she said.
“We want to prioritise those who need absolutely to see their GP and try encourage others with minor illnesses to try and self-care and self-manage those symptoms.”
On St Stephen's Day, the Chief Medical Officer Professor Breda Smyth urged people to start wearing masks again on public transport.
The Government is said to be considering re-introducing a mask mandate.
