Free GP care for under-6s plan takes another blow as doctors vote for its postponement

The Government’s plan to introduce free GP care for under-6s next year is in jeopardy after one of the GP organisations called for its postponement.

Delegates at the annual conference of the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP) voted overwhelmingly at the weekend for a motion calling on the Government to resource general practice instead in order to reverse the damage caused by funding cuts.

The association, which says it represents more than 1,200 family doctors, ramped up the pressure on Minister for Health Leo Varadkar by claiming to have secured a trade union negotiating licence through an alliance with a union that already has one.

Mr Varadkar's officials are currently negotiating the terms for introducing the under-6s scheme with the Irish Medical Organisation, but the NAGP has been excluded from this process because it does not have negotiating rights.

Narrowly defeated

Some doctors at the NAGP conference in

Limerick

favoured calling on the Government to withdraw the scheme altogether, but a motion to this effect was narrowly defeated after speakers said it could be misinterpreted in the media.

The conference heard claims that patients were being sent back to their GP from hospital emergency departments when they should be admitted.

Association chairman Andy Jordan called on the Government to "stop the madness" in its policies and care for people in the community rather than being so reliant on hospital care.

It was “unfair and unjust” to take from the sickest and the poorest in society, he said, especially when it was done by the back door. “We must not allow political expediency and populist ill thought-out policies to replace policies that concentrate on chronic disease management involving high quality care and proven value for money.”

Money was running away from the patient rather than following the patient, he said. General practice was dying, and doctors needed to stand up for patients. He described the Government’s policies on general practice as “morally corrupt”.

‘Silent flight’

Association president Conor McGee said the next protest by doctors would take the form of a “silent flight” by young GPs to other countries offering better work conditions, better work-life balance and better pay.

Dr McGee said a failure by emergency departments to admit patients was increasing pressure on GPs and was unfair to patients.

At the conference the association revealed that it plans to form a federation with the Independent Workers’ Union, which is not under the umbrella of the main trade union body Ictu.

An organisation requires at least 1,000 members to obtain a negotiating licence but there is no obligation on the State to grant one. The process of application takes 18 months.

Noel Murphy of the IWU told the NAGP conference the agreement would be "an arrangement of mutual convenience" under which its licence would be shared.