Flaherty insists Longford's out of hours GP service is not under threat

The future for Longford's out of hours GP service is not under threat, it was claimed this week.

Fianna Fáil Longford-Westmeath TD Joe Flaherty said he had held lengthy talks with both senior HSE officials and their Department of Health equivalent over ongoing fears surrounding the long term sustainability of the county's Midoc service.

“I have spoken with HSE management, Dept of Health officials and local GPs, and there is NO threat to the MIDOC / out-of-hours service in Longford.

“The HSE continue to work with local GPs on an interim service and discussions are ongoing with a new service provider (with a proven and enviable track record in the provision of out-of-hour services) thereafter.”

It comes after an uncertain past number of weeks for the service which saw the HSE confirm over the Christmas period that Midoc would be winding down amid a backdrop of unrelenting financial challenges.

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HSE officials are believed to be still in the throes of procuring an alternative permanent provider to plug the gap filled by the controversy.

Deputy Flaherty said in the intervening period he had aired the topic with a number of local GPs who confirmed they were “much happier” with the interim service operator currently in place.

“No health service is without fault or issue. However, the out-of-hours services has worked reasonably well and I am confident that the new provider will be a significant improvement,” he said.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael Councillor and local health advocate Peggy Nolan has called on Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to step in and provide a long-standing solution to the recent fallout.

Cllr Nolan has made no secret of her desire to see Longford prioritised over its three neighbouring counterparts in safeguarding the future of the facility at a time when hospital overcrowding has reached its highest level in years.

"On Christmas Eve, the public informed me that our out of hours Midoc service was to discontinue," she said.

"The thought of this vital service not being in place when our hospitals and our GPs are at breaking point was unthinkable not to mention the very real danger to our county."

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Cllr Nolan said given the escalation in respiratory viruses in the local community and hospitals and with waiting times for beds surpassing, in some places, 48 hour periods or more, there was no denying the importance an out of hours GP service continued to have on counties like Longford.