Mayo GP facing closure leaving hundreds of patients displaced
The Minister for Health has been urged to intervene to GP the Westport-based GP practice. Photo: Stock Image.
Around 600 patients will be left without a doctor when a GP practice in Westport closes at the end of November due to the sale of the building.
The issue was raised in the Dáil today by Mayo TD Paul Lawless as he urged the Minister for Health to intervene.
“Minister, a GP practice in Westport is closing. The landlord is selling the building, the doctor has nowhere to go. The GP is currently working the notice period with the HSE. The HSE says there’s no room to accommodate the GP in the Primary Care Centre," Deputy Lawless said.
"What Westport needs to hear is whether this Government will make room for a doctor. The GP is effectively working the notice period. The Government should be taking notice”
The Aontú representative continued, and took a swipe at plans within Mayo County Council to borrow €2.15m to refurbish the ground floor of Áras an Chontae along with the council chambers.
“The Government parties can find €2 million of tax-payers money to refurbish a meeting room in Mayo County Council to give Councillors an extravagant chamber in which to discuss public services, yet the HSE can not find a single room for a GP to provide one," he said.
"In one location we’re getting a new meeting room for politicians and a few miles down the road over six hundred public patients and hundreds more private patients are getting a farewell letter."
“Westport has a GP who wants to stay and it has patients who need the GP practice. When other pressures arise, the Government can find accommodation at remarkable speed. Why, then, can it not find a place for this doctor to practice before hundreds of Westport patients lose access to her care?” Deputy Lawless asked.
In response, the Minister said she was not aware of the issue, to which Deputy Lawless stated that was “unacceptable, given the serious number of patients being displaced”.
