Kyne should lobby for GP expenses instead of ministerial hotel bills

OPEN letter to Minister Seán Kyne Dear Minister,

As a rural general practitioner in Carraroe, south Connemara, I read with interest that you recently attended a meeting with Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe in relation to helping with the cost of overnight hotel accommodation in Dublin for Ministers of State (‘We need more expenses to pay for hotels in capital, say Fine Gael junior ministers on €130,000’ Irish Independent, December 3), compounded by having foregone two annual salary increases that have been awarded under pay restoration.

I also note that this Government, including many senior ministers and the Taoiseach, frequently refer to full employment and an economy which is in great shape.

As you are fully aware, during our financial crisis, vicious Fempi (financial emergency) cuts were applied to general practice, including the removal of distance codes that particularly impacted upon rural GPs.

Despite Government reports of a recovered economy, there is simply no move on the part of this Government to restore these Fempi cuts, and this is despite all the evidence that money invested in general practice is money well spent, including incontrovertible and worldwide evidence showing that every €1 moved from hospital care to primary care saves €5.

If you see fit to personally lobby in relation to help with your own hotel bills, what lobbying are you doing to support the 12 rural GPs that provide crucial healthcare services to the Connemara members of your constituency?

No one covers our costs when we travel, often relatively long distances, to essential house calls.

Perhaps you might ask Mr Donohoe if he has money for my travel expense when I next visit my elderly 96-yearold patient who lives 25km from my surgery rather than lobbying for ministerial hotel room costs? Dr Peter A Sloane

Carraroe, Co Galway