Sir, - In my role as the current medical chairman of the North East Doctor On Call service (NEDOC), I had the pleasure last week of participating in a press conference detailing the results of an extensive satisfaction survey garnered from patients or the families of patients who have used the service since its inception almost two years ago.
How disappointing then, to have such a poor turnout from the region's media outlets, particularly as they have been a conduit for the large amount of local political criticism which this service still continues to attract. Perhaps it represents the old axiom that good news isn't real news.
The survey was requested by the Department of Health before the service began and was readily agreed to by participating general practitioners. Can anyone tell me of any other group providing a public service in this country which has allowed its work to be studied, analysed and held up to public scrutiny in this fashion?
The survey was carried out by an independent market research company, which considered these results to be more accurate than the nationally commissioned opinion polls which we see at election time. They showed an overwhelming level of satisfaction among patients or the families of patients who had sought the services of NEDOC.
The most stunning observation was made by the principal research scientist who said that, in his 30-year career, he had never come across a personal one-on-one service that had attracted such high levels of satisfaction. In his own words, the results were unprecedented.
Contrast this with the continual sniping and criticism which the service has attracted from local politicians throughout the region over the past two years. For many of our members, this reached a particular low during the recent election when one (admittedly unsuccessful) candidate questioned whether doctors were properly fulfilling their professional duty by participating in the service.
I would like to ask all politicians in the region, in view of the results of this survey, how they could possibly have so misjudged the views of the local population. It does make one wonder whose views these people actually represent apart from their own. Throughout the country we continually see local representatives purporting to represent their constituents on "controversial" issues. What has happened in the North East with NEDOC would lead me to question whether we should continue to place so much credence in the views of local political representatives as we currently do.
On a broader health service level, it is deeply ironic to our members that, in the already discredited health strategy of this Government, it wishes to instigate the most profound change in that aspect of the service which seems to work best - i.e. general practice. It is by no means perfect but, in terms of patient satisfaction, would put most if not all other aspects of our health service to shame.
The one part of the service which seems immune from change, according to the strategy, is the local political and bureaucratic structure which most service providers agree is the real and true barrier to meaningful change and improvement.
As this is the breeding ground for politicians of all persuasion, it is not hard to see the reason for reticence, but this must and will change.
On the issue of general practitioner co-operatives in general, this survey highlights the huge benefits of this type of service. Our Minister of Finance, quite properly, is becoming more discerning when it comes to spending public money, having been nothing but profligate for the past five years, when money was thrown at the health service with little or no assessment of whether it would lead to improvement, let alone increased patient satisfaction. Value for money allied with service improvement is now rightly the order of the day.
Here we have a service which the public needs, approves of, wishes to use and appreciates (the survey tells us all this). The country's general practitioners (of which we currently have only half the European per capita average) will be attracted to work such a system only if it is properly resourced and funded at a national level.
If the political will to do this is lacking, I fear greatly for the future of the very concept of 24-hour GP care and in a few years we may ironically have some of our currently complaining local representatives with short memories looking back at this time as a golden age before services dramatically worsened. - Yours, etc.,
Dr SHANE CORR,
Crann Nua,
Carrickmacross,
Co Monaghan.