Donegal TD Pearse Doherty is seeking a meeting with the HSE to discuss the future of the GP out of hours service in the county.
At present, it’s managed and delivered by the HSE’s NoWDOC service, with Caredoc providing GPs for the delivery of care.
It’s understood the talks currently underway may see Caredoc take over the service completely, with questions about whether the call centre will be transferred from Letterkenny to Carlow, and what the status of the centres in Letterkenny, Carndonagh, Gweedore and Mountcharles county will be.
Deputy Doherty says a meeting is necessary to ensure that the interests of the people of Donegal are at the heart of the discussions………..
In response, the HSE said, “The NoWDOC GP Out of Hours Service provides an urgent GP service to patients in Co Donegal and South Leitrim.
The current operating model of GP OOH Service is managed and delivered by the HSE (NoWDOC) as part of a hybrid model with Caredoc providing GP’s for the delivery of care.
The HSE are continuing to work in partnership with NoWDOC & Caredoc to ensure that the public using the GP Out of Hours Service, and the staff working in the service, are provided with the necessary supports to deliver the best care to our service users, while ensuring that patient safety and quality of service are at the forefront of service delivery.
Exploratory discussions have commenced with relevant stakeholders surrounding the most effective arrangements needed to continue to deliver a safe quality driven service for our community, while also focusing on the need to examine the potential redesign of the operating model for the GP Out of Hours service in Donegal and South Leitrim going forward.
We remain fully committed to supporting our staff who are working in our NoWDOC service, and will ensure that we are engaging with staff directly and with their representative bodies throughout these discussions.
The HSE will continue to communicate and engage with all relevant stakeholders to ensure they are fully appraised of and consulted on any future developments.
