HSE reveal almost 7,000 calls made to NoWDOC service last month

 
It’s been revealed that almost 7,000 calls were made to the NoWDOC GP Out of Hours Service throughout last month.
According to figures released by the HSE, the recent festive period also proved to be an exceptionally busy time for the service.
Some 6997 calls were received by the service in the month of December, reflecting an increase of 24% on the same period in 2015.
Approximately 70% of all calls received a GP consultation and/or treatment in one of the centres or at home, whereas the remaining 30% received nursing advice.
The service also received and dealt with 4,605 calls between December 19th 2016 and January 3rd 2017.
The NoWDOC service provides an urgent GP family Doctor service to patients of GP members in Co Donegal and south Leitrim.
All calls are initially assessed by trained and qualified Nursing clinicians, using bespoke nursing triage software.
A clinical decision will then be made regarding the appropriate level of care, as patients can be seen by a GP in one of our main treatment centres, located at Letterkenny, Carndonagh, Mountcharles, Derrybeg and Carrick-on-Shannon.
All consultations in the NoWDOC service are by appointment only, and the location of the centre which the patient will attend, is agreed in advance, with the patient, during the process.