‘Lives will be lost’ if SouthDocs close
People in county Cork will die if SouthDocs in 2 towns close and move their services to Cork city, a county councillor has said.
Fianna Fáil Cllr and Deputy County Mayor Deirdre O’Brien said the closure of the SouthDoc in Fermoy is “only waiting to happen” as the service struggles to cope due to a shortage of GPs.
Failure at both Mallow and Fermoy SouthDocs to fill vacant positions in recent months has led to speculation regarding the future of the vital services.
Speaking at Monday’s meeting of Cork County Council, Cllr O’Brien said those in the North Cork area in need of urgent out of hours medical care are now forced to travel long distances to reach their nearest A&E.
“There's rumours going around the whole time on the Southdoc in Fermoy,” said Cllr O’Brien.
She added: “We don't plan to get sick. People are expected to travel miles during the night to get to an A&E – it just means you're clogging up the A&Es in hospitals. Lives will be lost here.”
Her comments came following a letter of correspondence to Cork County Council from the Cork/Kerry Community Healthcare regarding a previous weekend closure of Mallow SouthDoc in April due to a shortage of staff.
Fianna Fáil Cllr Frank O’Flynn said he will fight “tooth and nail” to retain SouthDoc services in both Mallow and Fermoy, describing the situation as “absolutely crazy” and calling on the council executive to write a further letter to Cork/Kerry Community Healthcare.
He said: “Where there's a doctor short in Mallow, they close down Fermoy and they transfer it to Mallow.
“What they're trying to do here is trying to close Mallow and Fermoy and move it to Cork, and they're doing it by stealth. This is a conditioning process.”
Cllr O’Flynn added: “Southdoc have a contract to provide a service and they're now going to renege on it.”
In a letter to Cork County Council, Acting Head of Service, Primary Care, Cork/Kerry Community Healthcare, Mari O’Donovan, said: “The overall availability of GPs and engaging locum doctors to provide support to the out of hour’s service is extremely difficult.
“Due to a variety of circumstances, not all doctors are in a position to participate in the out of hour’s service hence the considerable reliance on locum doctor support.
“SouthDoc therefore relies heavily on the support of locum doctors as well as other treatment centres in the co-op to sustain the out of hour’s service, particularly on the overnight and at the weekends.”