*The Green in Newmarket-on-Fergus where the GP practice of Dr Colum Hackett was located.
REMOVING GP services from the county’s fifth largest settlement is “unfathomable”, Newmarket-on-Fergus’ sole elected member of Clare County Council has said.
Saffron and Blue Medical Centre in Clarecastle will be transferred close to 1000 medical card holders from Newmarket-on-Fergus from January 1st.
Dr Colum Gavin of Saffron and Blue had been awarded a contract from the HSE in 2020 following Dr Colum Hackett’s retirement in May 2019 with a service provided from a chalet at Carrigoran House since June 2020.
Efforts to find a permanent premises in the village has been ongoing for six years with the HSE stating up to twenty potential sites were viewed. Agreement could not be reached between Saffron and Blue and the HSE on possible Newmarket-on-Fergus premises.
Cllr David Griffin (FF) said the HSE’s announcement that the part-time GP service at Carrigoran would cease from the beginning of January was “hugely disappointing to the community. Significant effort has been put in by the community in recent years to help the HSE source a suitable premises in our village, and the news that these efforts were unsuccessful to date is unfathomable”.
He told The Clare Echo he would continue “to liaise with our Oireachtas members and lobby the HSE to ensure that the medical needs of our community remain on the agenda. We are the fifth largest settlement in the county, and it is concerning for the future of all villages if the HSE have been unable to facilitate a GP in our village. As a councillor I will continue to advocate for a longer-term solution”.
At the most recent sitting of the Shannon Municipal District prior to the HSE’s announcement, Cllr Griffin raised the matter. He tabled a motion seeking support from all elected members of the MD to “support a permanent GP presence within the village of Newmarket-on-Fergus” and for an update to be provided by the HSE “urgently”.
Speaking at the sitting, Cllr Griffin commented, “this is going on quite some time, we all know the village is without a GP for four years and longer, it is not a Council function but it is something we should keep on the agenda with HSE and powers that be”.
Unsure on the exact amount of medical card holders at the time, Cllr Griffin estimated it was in excess of 800. He described what was on offer in Carrigoran as a “skeleton service”. He stated, “there is a real want in the village and the community to see the return of a GP, I personally don’t mind where in the village it is but on the political side we need to keep this on the agenda”.
Recalling a meeting with a local group “a few years ago,” Cllr Pat O’Gorman (FF) referenced patients “with mobility issues” are being forced to travel out of the village to get medical services. “Since Dr Hackett left Newmarket-on-Fergus, it has left an awful void”.
Cathaoirleach of the Shannon MD, Cllr John Crowe (FF) acknowledged the frustration in Newmarket-on-Fergus. “A lot more areas around will have the same problem in the next year or two. It is a major problem for our area because we will be left without GPs with some of them coming to retirement age”.
