Lack of permanent medical officer at St Patrick’s in Fermoy

THE issue is the filling of the permanent medical officer position at St. Patrick’s Community Hospital in Fermoy was raised in the Dáil last week by Fianna Fáil Deputy Kevin O’Keeffe.

He said there is not a full uptake of respite beds at present in St. Patrick’s Community Hospital and, second, some eligible patients end up being sent to alternative nursing home or community hospital locations.

“That is not good enough, as we have a state-of-the-art facility in Fermoy,” he said. “Families are being pressurised to second GPs to provide cover when the availability of a respite bed arises.

“I remind the Minister of State (Catherine Byrne) that not all patients or their GPs are from within the confines of Fermoy. Some patients who have been allocated a respite bed at St. Patrick’s Community Hospital cannot avail of the care there. The reason is that their own family doctors cannot put themselves in a position to travel to the hospital and attend to them if and when the need arises. The offer of a bed, therefore, has to be declined.

“The HSE can cause a cold relationship between families and their doctors by passing on the blame. That is not going down well in the area.”

Deputy O’Keeffe said the HSE seemed to indicate there was no problem in the context of Fermoy but in recent weeks he was shown a letter which was written to a constituent who was seeking a respite bed for her mother in another facility. “She was advised that, due to circumstances beyond the control of the HSE, the availability of respite to clients across the North Cork community services area has recently been reduced,” he said. “The letter went on to say that this had greatly increased the demand for respite services in Nazareth House in Mallow.

“That suggests the problem in Fermoy is starting to have a knock-on effect on other community hospitals.”

In reply, Minister of State Byrne said that due to the lack of full medical officer cover, respite admissions require a person’s own GP to complete the assessment and administration process and to be available, if required, during the core hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“It should be noted that difficulties have arisen when some GP practices in the local area have advised that they are unable to provide medical cover for their patients during respite due to work pressures and capacity issues within their own practices,” she said.

“Cork Kerry Community Healthcare continues to seek a permanent and sustainable solution to providing full medical cover at Fermoy Community Hospital. The GP who currently provides this service has indicated to the HSE that he is willing to provide full medical officer cover to the hospital once he has resolved the GP locum situation that continues to be problematic for him and his practice.” retired without a pension and the remaining 1,250 cannot be left watching this drag on.

“The proposed Government amendment suggests even more dragging on. That should not continue. A decision has already been made by the Labour Court and we need a clear road map to the pension for these very important people.”