Madam, - There has been much uninformed debate in the Dáil on the provision of general practitioner out-of-hours cover in north Dublin.
Some sources, all non-medical, have sought to blame our packed hospital casualty wards and the apartheid against our elderly patients in A&E on inappropriate GP referrals or the absence of general practitioner out-of-hours cover.
Over the past eight years the number of attendances at A&E departments has been stable at 1.24 million. In north Dublin, while the population has increased by 7 per cent in six years, there has been no evident increased attendances at A&E. North Dublin GPs have stepped into the breach to meet the needs of the increased population - despite having a ratio of one GP to 2,500 patients compared with one GP to 1,650 patients in south Dublin.
The elected representatives of the 220 north Dublin general practitioners have been in discussions with the Health Service Executive since December 2004.
Our offer to provide a GP co-operative out-of-hours service like those throughout the rest of the country was rejected in July 2005. GPs in north Dublin were very disappointed with this response to our offer.
We remain able and willing to provide such a service. - Yours, etc,
Dr RAYMOND WALLEY,
Chair of Steering Committee,
North Dublin GP Co-op,
Glasnevin Avenue,
Dublin 11.