The INMO is urging the HSE to properly fund the NOWDOC out of hours GP service in Donegal and Leitrim.
In a statement this afternoon, the organisation does not address the ongoing discussions on the future of the service and the possible takeover by Caredoc, but it says recent commentary on delays in triage at NOWDOC points to funding issues and the need for the HSE to ensure the service is safe.
In a statement this afternoon, INMO Industrial Relations Officer Neal Donoghue says both prior to and throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, nurses working in NOWDOC sounded the alarm in relation to the serious lack of investment in the out-of-hours GP services for their communities.
He says significantly, the HSE is directing the public to use out-of-hours GP services rather than attend emergency departments, but no commensurate increase in triage services has been provided.
He adds that in the Northwest, the HSE have fundamentally failed to put in place the necessary structures and supports required to manage NOWDOC, and nurses are reporting that this weakness is contributing to the risks to the public in terms of delays in patients being seen by GPs.
He says the HSE continues to employ nurses on temporary contracts in insufficient numbers which is simply unsustainable, given the demand for their skills and expertise elsewhere and the service needs.
