Longford Councillors call for meeting with HSE about MIDOC

The future for Longford's out of hours GP service was discussed at the January meeting of Longford County Council.
The out-of-hours healthcare support is to conclude, with the HSE saying negotiations to provide an alternative service are ongoing.

MIDOC GP CLG coordinated the rotas and payments for the local GP’s and locum GP’s working the out of hours service for Laois, Offaly, Mullingar and Longford. It ceased trading on December 31, 2022.
“Right over Christmas my phone was bombarded by people really concerned about the future of MIDOC,” Cllr Peggy Nolan said at the first monthly Council meeting of 2023.

“To date there are no contracts signed,” the Fine Gael representative said, “there are numerous issues to be discussed with the HSE. We have asked for a meeting, but we have been ignored. There has been no correspondence back.”

Cllr Nolan said MIDOC is a health care priority for Longford. She added palliative care beds and the upgrade of the equipment in St Joseph's radiology department are also issues of concern.
“Yes, it's true MIDOC is still operational, but how long it can continue the way it is is unknown. It's only continuing because of the goodwill of our GPs. There is no contract signed,” she warned.

Last week Fianna Fáil Longford-Westmeath TD Joe Flaherty said he had held lengthy talks with both senior HSE officials and their Department of Health equivalent over fears about the sustainability of the MIDOC service.

Deputy Flaherty said there was no threat to the out of hours doctor service. He pointed out that HSE officials are in negotiations to provide an alternative permanent provider to replace the Midoc service.
The HSE say they engaged with MIDOC for a number of months to address financial challenges it faced. The Midlands GP service MIDOC has been running for 20 years providing cover for a population of 300,000.

Cllr Nolan was supported in her calls for a meeting with the HSE.