General practice is Ireland is “just hanging in there” with reform, investment and political commitment needed if the health care system in Ireland is to move successfully to a primary care-led system, TDs have been told. “Just because it’s the way to go doesn’t mean that it will be easy,” Dr Tom O’Dowd, Emeritus Professor of General Practice Trinity College Dublin and a GP in Tallaght, told the Oireachtas health committee on Wednesday morning. “It requires political leadership.”Dr O’Dowd also said that many GPs were unwilling to take on GMS patients, patients with a medical card, because the system was too complicated. Demand for hospital services will increase by more than a third, while demand for GP services will increase by more than a quarter. This will require increased costs to the state across all areas of health care.

Source: The Irish Times February 14, 2018 14:03 UTC