18 HEALTH MATTERS health service
+ (l-R): Catherine Bolger, dr Christine Corr, dr. Austin o’Carroll, Brenda keenan and Sarah kane.
Mutual support key for GPs and other health service workers
GPs need support to prevent them becoming isolated due to their small size and physical disconnection from other HSE-employed primary care staff, while the HSE needs GP support at a time when the HSE is increasingly caught in a catch-22, where it faces increasing public expectations while experiencing decreasing public funding, writes Dr Austin O’Carroll, who is a partner in a practice located in Dublin’s north inner city, explains the need for mutual support
O
ur practice has always had a good working relationship with the HSE and it was the synergy between our energy and the HSE’s impetus to improve services that helped achieve some successes in addressing health inequalities. In truth, there are some in the medical profession who believe the HSE to be inefficient, unreliable and, in the most paranoid cases, ‘out to get’ them. There are those in the HSE who believe the only motivation for GPs is to earn money. However, in my experience, in between are the huge majority who recognise that we all wish to improve the health services and the health of our individual patients. This common desire needs to be exploited in future initiatives, in particular in bringing about the full implementation of the Primary Health Care Strategy.
SERVICES PROVIDED
Our practice now comprises two partners, myself and Dr Ciara McMeel, five doctors, a nurse, practice manager, practice support manager and five administrative staff. We provide all the range of services that any general practice would offer to its patients. However, we also seek to offer specialised services to address the health inequalities evident in our area. Early on the practice adopted a mission statement ‘to provide the highest possible evidence-based healthcare to our patients and to address health inequalities within our area’. As a result we have conducted a number of initiatives in line with this mission: • In the late 90's we set up an outreach clinic in a reception centre for asylum seekers at which we would see ten patients each day. We also provided
services to asylum seekers and people from new communities residing in the area. At this stage we have over 450 patients from new communities. All practice staff did cultural awareness training and also learnt French to converse with our African French speaking patients. I wrote the first Irish College of General Practitioners Guide for working with new communities. We were awarded a prize for our work with asylum seekers from the African Refugee Network.
• In the early 2000s we set up specialised services for homeless people. These are services where they are operated from facilities that are used by homeless people. The surgery now operates GP-run clinics out of four hostels, (Cedar House, maple House, Beech House and Back
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