Still no MIDOC in Tullamore or Edenderry

Eighteen months after a report highlighted that neither Tullamore nor Edenderry had a formal 24-hour GP co-operative service available to patients and despite a focused effort that was to be put into rectifying that, the MIDOC out-of-hours GP service is still not up and running in either town. The HSE National Review of GP Out of Hours Services published in April 2010 identified gaps in the midlands MIDOC service in Moate/Glasson, Tullamore and Edenderry/Rhode. However though the MIDOC service was expanded to Moate and Glasson on Tuesday last, it seems little progress has been made in expanding it to cover Tullamore, Edenderry and Rhode and the 46,100 potential MIDOC patients in those areas. A statement from the HSE this week simply said the organisation is "currently working on plans" to expand the MIDOC services to include full coverage for the entire four midland counties. However, the same statement underlined that in order to expand the MIDOC service it would have to be "reorganised in a cost neutral fashion due to the limiting resources available". Plans for the service to be in place by October or November of this year now look increasingly unlikely; something which Edenderry doctor Philip Brady is upset about. "It's something that should have happened years ago," he told the Offaly Independent yesterday, adding that doctors of the town are willing to join the scheme. Edenderry Town Councillor Liam Hogan said a meeting regarding the MIDOC issue among others has been arranged with the town council and the HSE for October 27. Referring to this as "make or break time" he said as many councillors as possible will attend this meeting and "bring it to a head". Cllr Hogan added that while Tullamore "had it too cosy" with the luxury of a hospital in the town for emergencies "over here it's not so simple". Meanwhile HSE Health Forum member Tommy McKeigue from Tullamore said the HSE was currently trying to get Tullamore doctors on board, which would ease the pressure on Tullamore hospital's emergency department. "The reply that I got from them that they sent out in the last two weeks was that they were trying to get up to speed on it and get doctors to get on board with it," he explained. However in the meantime he encouraged Tullamore doctors to get on board with the scheme, saying that if "all the GPs buy into it it'll be a very good service".