FIVE OF the country’s out-of-hours GP co-ops do not ensure the locums they employ are vetted by the Garda, according to a report published by the HSE yesterday.
The review of the operation of out-of-hours GP services across the State found a range of differing practices across GP co-ops.
Not all employ locum GPs but of those that do, the report says that NowDoc (covering Donegal, south Leitrim and north Roscommon), DDoc (covering parts of Dublin), WestDoc (covering much of Galway and Mayo), SouthDoc (covering Cork and Kerry) and NeDoc (covering Meath, Monaghan, Cavan, south Louth) do not under- take Garda clearance of their locums.
The report does not comment on this practice but when doctors are employed by HSE hospitals they are required to get Garda clearance in advance.
A HSE spokeswoman said this anomaly would be addressed when each co-op is required to put in place a service level agreement with the HSE, which the report recommends.
The review also found it costs £18-£20 million to provide out-of-hours GP cover to 1.4 million people in the North, while in the South it costs millions more – €107 million – to provide the service to the same number of people.
The report recommends the seven call centres used by GP co-ops in the South be reduced to four and says that steps should be taken to engage with non- participating GPs in some areas to ensure areas not currently catered for by an out-of-hours GP co-op get coverage.
These areas include Dundalk/Carlingford, Limerick city, Sligo, Tallaght, Tullamore, Moate and Edenderry.
It also says the cost of nurse triage in DDoc, which is carried out by Caredoc (covering much of the southeast) and costs €20.32 per call, has to be reviewed to bring it into line with costs nationally at just over €4 per call.
And it recommends each region should look at providing drivers for their GP co-ops in a more cost-effective manner.
Satisfaction ratings with the co-ops, the report says, have ranged between 50 per cent for DDoc to 98 per cent for KDoc (covering Kildare and west Wicklow).