SouthDoc treatment of Dr O'Reilly patients
Deputy Collins criticised SouthDoc management for refusing out-of-hours care to patients of Dr. Fiona O'Reilly in Clonakilty and called for an inquiry. The Taoiseach said he would ask the Minister to follow up, but stressed the Dáil was not responsible for every local management decision and cautioned against inflammatory language.
I want to concentrate on the senior management in SouthDoc and their appalling treatment of a doctor and her patients in Clonakilty and its surrounds. Dr. Fiona O'Reilly has run an excellent practice in Clonakilty for many years. For health reasons, she is unable to do SouthDoc hours. Instead of SouthDoc working with Dr. O'Reilly, it has decided, in its wisdom, to punish her and her patients. Today, if you ring SouthDoc with an out-of-hours emergency, you are asked who your doctor is. SouthDoc will not attend to you if you say that you are a patient of Dr. O'Reilly. It will direct you to 112 or 999, or to an overcrowded accident and emergency department. This happened recently to a 16-year-old and an 84-year-old, among others.
SouthDoc has written to Dr. O'Reilly's patients - I have such a letter with me - telling them not to call if they are ill. This is nothing short of bully-boy tactics from SouthDoc management. It could well lead to a loss of life. I ask the Taoiseach to intervene on behalf of every patient in Clonakilty who is under the excellent care of Dr. O'Reilly and to demand of SouthDoc management that the people of west Cork be treated like every other person in the country and be entitled to out-of-hours medical services if they are required.
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An inquiry needs to be set up-----
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-----as to who made this shocking decision.
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First of all, I introduced SouthDoc to west Cork, so I am a great believer in SouthDoc and that whole model. I thank Dr. Fiona O'Reilly for the work that she is doing. We are not responsible here in the Dáil for every management decision at local level or in the various co-ops. This is the first time that the Deputy has brought this to my attention. The Minister is here as well and she will follow up on the case.
We should avoid language like "bully boy tactics" because the Deputy is impugning the character of people in management in a given organisation. It is not the kind of language-----
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That is not good enough.
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It gives licence to people to do things. We need to watch our language when we are talking about public servants.
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That is not good enough.