Nolan calls on Health Minister to "sort out" Longford's out of hours GP service fears

The call was one which was made by Fine Gael Councillor and local health advocate Peggy Nolan following the unexpected closure of Midoc on New Year's Eve.

HSE senior figures are believed too be continuing with their efforts to appoint a permanent provider to take over the running of a service covering counties Laois, Offaly, Longford and Westmeath.

Cllr Nolan has made no secret of her desire to see Longford prioritised over its three neighbouring counterparts in safeguarding the future of the facility at a time when hospital overcrowding has reached its highest level in years.

"On Christmas Eve, the public informed me that our out of hours Midoc service was to discontinue," she said.

"The thought of this vital service not being in place when our hospitals and our GPs are at breaking point was unthinkable not to mention the very real danger to our county."

Cllr Nolan said given the escalation in respiratory viruses in the local community and hospitals and with waiting times for beds surpassing, in some places, 48 hour periods or more, there was no denying the importance an out of hours GP service continued to have on counties like Longford.

She said there was a case to be made for Longford to be given preferential status in underpinning the service in view of the accessibility other counties within the now defunct Midoc radius had to frontline health services.

"The fact that four counties are served by Midoc, namely Laois ,Westmeath ,Offaly and Longford-all of the county’s have hospitals on their doorstep except Longford," she stressed.

"I am calling on the Minister to get involved and sort out this with immediate effect."