The Galway Bay Medical Centre Blog

This article by Dr Sinead Murphy is published in the Irish Times of September 9th 2015

General practice has changed since my father began his career in the late 1970s. When Dr Murphy snr applied for his first post, more than 70 GPs applied and every one of them wanted that job.

When he retired five years ago, a small handful of GPs showed an interest in taking over his busy country practice. Dozens of GP posts now remain unfilled for want of a single applicant........

 

 

As you will know, the Irish Government made a promise some time ago to give free GP care to all children under the age of 6. It is their stated intention that this scheme will be operational by 1st July 2015, whether GPs are on board or not, with further age cohorts to follow. I reluctantly signed the Under-6s contract today (under duress).
On the surface at least, this scheme is great news for parents, and most GPs will get a financial boost from participating (myself included), so it may seem strange that most GPs are not happy about signing this contract.......,.

You may have seen our recent news article on Quippe Medical from Melbourne and their clever range of diabetic products. 

We asked Cian Murphy if he would write a guest blog for us to tell us a little more about the company and how it all started. Please spread the word and hopefully we can help make other boys lives a bit easier too...

Take it away, Cian....

We are in the midst of a crisis in General Practice in Ireland but few seem to be fully aware of this, apart from GPs.

The Government have been told, but they are in denial and still following their own misguided agenda when they could be listening to GPs on the ground.......

We don't normally re-post articles from other sources but this short letter from The Guardian is worth a read......

As a GP I understand that, for the majority of people, the prospect of having to visit me is only slightly more welcome than a visit to the dentist. You want to get in and out with as little hassle as possible, explain your problem and leave with a solution.
For many of my patients, that's the service I provide.
As a result, you might believe that my area of expertise is limited to the last medical problem that you asked for my help to solve.

So too do all the other patients that you shared a waiting room with on that day.......

So what's happening about the free GP care for Under-6s, didn't the Government promise it

would be in place by Summer 2014? 

'Government in broken promise' shocker. It's hardly a new headline...

A recent Ipsos MORI poll has shown that doctors are the most trusted profession with 88% of adults surveyed in the UK saying that they trust doctors to tell the truth.....

 

Alex Kinne Coyle is a young boy with a rare disease who had his medical card taken from him by the Department of Health so that a medical card can be given to a healthy Under 6 year old instead.....

Ministers Reilly & White seem determined to push through their vision of 'Free' GP Care for Under 6's without any regard to the concerns or expertise of the GPs tasked with delivering this care, 92-98% of whom have stated that they cannot sign the proposed contract as it is unworkable. So how will the HSE deliver free GP care?.........

Imagine this scenario...

One morning in January 2014 the Irish Government announces that from July of this year, haircare for Under 6s will be free.......

We need your help....

If you are a member of the Polish/Portuguese/Russian community living in Galway we need your help.....

You may have noticed a lot of attention in the media recently about the fact that over 90% of Irish GPs have said they will not sign up to the current draft of proposed 'free' GP care to Under-6s.

The document that is causing such concern among GPs is intended to enable the provision of 'Free' GP care to under 6's, as promised by Minister Reilly out of the blue some months back without so much as a word of consultation with the GPs who are supposed to provide this care and with only a passing reference to the resources required.

Much will be made in the coming weeks of our refusal to sign as the Government try to dig their way out of this latest fiasco.

GPs will be painted as greedy, money-grabbing, uncaring individuals who don't want to look after the countries children. Inflated details of the monies paid to GPs will be leaked to the media (as they are every year) in a bid to turn public opinion against us.

It is only fair that GPs get a chance to present our side of this situation in advance of the Government spin machine....

At Galway Bay Medical Centre we are lucky to be able to offer the services of a highly trained Clinical Dietitian who deals with a broad range of gastrointestinal conditions.

We are the only Medical Centre in Galway to offer the Low FODMAP diet as a treatment for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).

This treatment will be delivered by Aisling Snedker RD, Clinical Dietician from clinicaldietician.ie and we are very pleased to welcome Aisling as our first guest blogger. Aisling will be sharing her extensive knowledge of Diet and Nutrition with us over the next few weeks starting with an in depth look at the Low FODMAP diet and how it can help those who suffer from IBS

 

Over to you, Aisling....

Free GP Care for Under-6s

It is unethical and immoral to select children of high earners for free GP care over those on lower income, those with chronic illnesses and other vulnerable patients whose taxes are being used to fund it but who won't get free care themselves........

We don't normally use the blog to repost content from around the Web but the article below deserves to be shared as widely as possible........

I remember clearly when the novelty of finally being a 'real' doctor wore off, along with my notions of becoming a surgeon.......