Focus on primary care can solve health service issues – Prof Drumm

Prof Drumm, speaking ahead of this evening’s public meeting organised by the NAGP in the Ballsbridge Hotel, Dublin, said that focusing on primary care services would help to solve many of the problems in the Irish health service.

“The Irish health service is at a crucial point in its development. We have an opportunity now, as a new government is being formed, to come together and force real change across the board because the current system is just not working,” he said.

However, Prof Drumm also said that GPs need to be allowed to drive the necessary change. “With all the talk of investing in primary care, and I do believe it is the only way we can solve many of the issues in the health service, we also need those already working in primary care – GPs especially – to be allowed to take more responsibility for bringing solutions to the table.”

The NAGP is holding public meetings on the Irish health service in Dublin, Cork and Limerick this week and next. The general public are urged to attend alongside public representatives, healthcare professionals and key stakeholders.

At the meetings, the NAGP will set out its proposal for a ‘Tallaght Strategy for Health’, which it says would take politics out of the national healthcare system and “ensure a 10-year plan with consensus across healthcare providers”.

The association says such a consensus can only be achieved by involving all the political parties, representative bodies – including the NAGP – patients and stakeholders, to create a plan for health that is “independent of the electoral cycle and has a reasonable time frame to succeed”.

The NAGP, which says it represents over 1,500 GPs, has not yet been invited to negotiations on a new GP contract.

<em>Details of the public meetings are as follows;</em>

<strong>Dublin – Wednesday, 20 April 2016 at 7:30pm in the Ballsbridge Hotel, Dublin 4 (formerly Jury’s)</strong>

Speakers:

• Chair: Ms Susan Mitchell, Health Editor, Sunday Business Post

• Prof Garry Courtney, Consultant Physician & Gastroenterologist, St Luke’s Hospital

• Dr Ronan Fawsitt, GP and NAGP Council Member

• Prof Brendan Drumm, Professor of Paediatrics, University College Dublin and former Chief Executive of the HSE

• Mr Kieran Ryan, CEO of the ICGP

<strong>Cork – Thursday, 21 April 2016 at 7:30pm in the Clayton Silver Springs Hotel, Tivoli, Cork</strong>

Speakers:

• Chair: Ms Susan Mitchell, Health Editor, Sunday Business Post

• Dr Gary Stack, GP, Killarney.

• Mr Kieran Ryan, CEO of the ICGP

• Dr Jennifer Carroll, Consultant Physician, Cork University Hospital

<strong>Limerick – Monday, 25 April 2016 at 7:30pm in the Strand Hotel, Ennis Road, Limerick</strong>

Speakers:

• Chair: Ms Susan Mitchell, Health Editor, Sunday Business Post.

• Dr Emmet Kerin, GP and President of the NAGP

• Dr Edward Walsh, President Emeritus University of Limerick

• Prof Paul Finucane, Foundation Head of the Graduate Entry Medical School at the University of Limerick