The HSE has confirmed that there are currently 251 applications from people in the Midlands who cannot find a GP to take them on as patients.
According to Independent TD Carol Nolan, 18 of these people are from Laois.
The number of applications date between January 2023 – August 2024 from HSE CHO Area 8.
“I have been consistently highlighting the major deficits in healthcare service provision in Laois-Offaly and indeed right across the Midlands, but these numbers are truly alarming,” said Deputy Nolan.
“My offices are increasingly being contacted by people who just cannot find a GP to take them on.
“The GP practices are themselves under enormous pressure and in many cases they simply do have the capacity. They want to help but they do not have the time or the resources.
“This is already creating problems around lengthy waiting times; but now the problem is facing a dramatic change in profile.
“I am dealing with people who have moved home to Offaly or Laois and who assumed that they would eventually find at least one GP practice that could add them and their children on as patients.
“Those people are now left entirely stranded in terms of access and prescriptions.
“In terms of the application process I usually advise constituents that if they are applying for a medical card and need a GP then they need to try at least three GP practices and have evidence of refusal.
“Only then can they contact the HSE for assistance in being assigned a GP.
“However, as the data I have received shows, there is no guarantee that a GP will be assigned and that is a genuinely worrying scenario for a growing number of people.
“Some of these unfortunate people have been waiting since January 2023.
“So much of this is the legacy of this and previous governments failure to properly support rural GP practices and staff retention and the glacial pace of rolling out services such as the Birr Primary Care Centre.
“I will be raising this as a matter of urgency with the Minister for Health and the HSE,” concluded Deputy Nolan.
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