HSE agrees contract with out of hours GPs to continue phone consultations
Out of hours GPs will continue working after the HSE agreed to pay for Covid-19 phone consultations.
The North East Doctor on Call (NEDOC) service has said that up to 70% of its calls are now dealt with by a direct doctor assessment.
It claimed the HSE had refused to fund doctor triage calls but the health authority now says it will pay up to 75% of the total of last year's medical card scheme towards the service
Medical Director of NEDOC, Illona Duffy, said while that is not enough they will continue to provide the essential scheme.
Ms Duffy said: "We're doctors, we have to put our patients' care and wellbeing first and this isn't something that we're going to be striking over or talking about withdrawing our services for.
"I think we'll be left with no other option except to continue working and we want to do that, every doctor out there wants to know that patients will receive care when they want care.
"We know that over the next few weeks general practice will be more important than ever."
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