*Members of the public listening to Senator Timmy Dooley (FF) at a public meeting in Newmarket-on-Fergus. Photograph: Joe Buckley
NEWMARKET-ON-FERGUS’ GP practice will continue to operate out of Carrigoran until December, the Minister for Health has said.
Over 200 people attended a recent public meeting in Newmarket-on-Fergus on the future of GP services in the village. Following this a delegation of the Newmarket-on-Fergus community forum met with Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly (FF) who confirmed the current arrangement will be extended until December, it had been due to expire in September.
Since June 2020, rooms in the daycare centre of Carrigoran Nursing Home has been the location of the medical practice in Newmarket-on-Fergus. Saffron and Blue Medical Centre received a contract from the HSE to operate this service following the retirement of Dr Colm Hackett in May 2019, he had been the village’s GP for forty two years.
In a proposal before the Shannon Municipal District, Cllr Pat McMahon (FF) requested the HSE to provide suitable premises for GP services in the village. He said the community forum representatives which included Paddy Enright, Pat Keogh, Tom Neylon and Margaret McMahon were “very surprised” with the Minister’s knowledge on their particular issue.
He recalled that there were thirteen applicants for the contract following Dr Hackett’s retirement. Cllr McMahon calculated that it would cost €150,000 to convert a potential premises in the village into a modern GP centre which would have a reception, two doctors rooms, two nurses rooms, modern toilets, a waiting room and small kitchen.
Having attended the public meeting, Cllr Pat O’Gorman (FF) described it as “a very emotional meeting because the people of Newmarket-on-Fergus are afraid they will lose their doctor”. With over 800 medical card holders attending the doctor in the vicinity, he maintained there would demand for a GP to take it over. “It is important the HSE steps in because the people of Newmarket-on-Fergus need a doctor”.
Dr Hackett’s retirement “created a huge amount of hardship for people in Newmarket-on-Fergus who had no doctor in the village, the arrangement in Carrigoran has not been ideal,” Cllr Gerry Flynn (IND) stated. He suggested the Shannon MD contact the Minister and HSE directly. “A lot of the older people are not driving and it is a huge inconvenience to try get to Carrigoran,” he added.
HSE officials have advised that the extension to December has been approved “but that is only buying time,” Cllr PJ Ryan (IND) felt. “With 800 card holders it is essential there is a facility put in place there,” he stated. Work of the community forum in assessing suitable premises will hopefully accelerate the process of the HSE deciding on a facility, Cllr Michael Begley (IND) believed.
There is no reason why a doctor cannot be based in the village, Cllr John Crowe (FG) outlined. “To listen to the people at that particular meeting and the fear they have that they won’t have a doctor, it is so important for a town like Newmarket-on-Fergus, it is a necessity that they have their own doctor”.
Cathaoirleach of the Shannon MD, Cllr Donna McGettigan (SF) said the entire MD was behind Cllr McMahon’s proposal. She said that the retirement of her own GP in Shannon left people eight months without a doctor and that such a scenario cannot be allowed to occur again.
