While Dr Ruairi Hanley was pleased to be quoted in the recent Dáil debate on opening up the GMS, he was less enamoured by remarks warning of a rush towards general practice’s more leafy suburbs.

I would like to begin this week by thanking Deputy Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan TD. On November 10, he spoke in the Dáil to support the Health (Provision of General Practitioner Services) Bill 2011 and was kind enough to quote this columnist directly.

“One indicator of the positive elements of this legislation are comments made by Dr Ruairi Hanley when he said, ‘It is a great day for patients, who will now have an increased choice of fully-trained GPs. It is a very bad day for a small section of the GP/IMO establishment.’ If it is a bad day for them, it is a good day for the ordinary citizen.”

I confess, I allowed myself a quiet chortle into a nice fresh pint upon reading these comments. I really hope the lads up in IMO headquarters enjoyed hearing them as much as I did.

I must admit that I was slightly surprised that ‘Ming the Merciless’ was the source of such insightful remarks. After all, this is a politician who until recently, openly acknowledged his prolific use of marijuana. His record on the issue of this mind-altering drug makes for entertaining reading.

Cannabis possession
For example, in 1998, Luke was convicted of cannabis possession and fined 150 punts. He refused to pay and presented himself to a Garda station with the intention of going to prison. Alas, his father had already quietly intervened and paid the fine for him. Various wits in the national media quickly dubbed Mr Flanagan senior ‘Ming the Merciful’.

Despite this setback, in 2011 the good people of Roscommon elected Luke to our national parliament. Earlier this year, following a complaint made by a Fianna Fáil councillor, Ming announced that he was giving up marijuana.

Clearly, given the accuracy of his statement to the Dáil on November 10, this decision has had no adverse affect on his analytical skills.

Unfortunately, Luke Flanagan was not the only TD to make a Dáil statement on this issue. He was followed by Deputy Liam Twomey, a GP and Fine Gael TD.

Like Ming, Dr Twomey was first elected to the Dáil as an Independent, in 2002. He had previously served as Chairman of the IMO in Wexford. Unlike Ming, he subsequently joined Fine Gael and was made front bench spokesman on health by Enda Kenny. He then lost his seat in the 2007 election, before regaining it in 2011, by which time Dr James Reilly had taken over in health.

As he rose to speak on this debate, Deputy Twomey confirmed he supported the Bill, which is official Government policy. However, he then chose to address the supposed dangers this legislation might create.

In a magnificent display of evidence-free, sweeping generalisation, Liam alleged that allowing qualified young GPs to treat medical-card patients could result in us all rushing to work in the “south County Dublin leafy suburbs”. He went on to imply that there was a risk that new entrants would set up second-rate practices in garages at the sides of houses (“We cannot return to a time when there were GP surgeries in garages stuck at the sides of houses.”)

Anger
It is difficult to describe the anger I felt when listening to Dr Twomey’s comments. Over the past few months, I have read similar innuendo from senior doctors hostile to this reform, including some IMO representatives. Although the majority of established GPs welcome this new equality and fairness, it appears there are those who are struggling to accept the new reality.

In my opinion, as they are incapable of defending the inherent discrimination that exists in the system, some colleagues have now attempted to switch the argument to a deeply touching concern for patients in deprived parts of our nation.

Those who make this case fail to acknowledge that the reason these areas are lacking in medical services is obviously because already-established GPs are not working in them! Nor do they admit that a significant number of young doctors have gained entry to the GMS in ‘leafy suburb’ practices owned by their fathers, via the interview system.

Unfortunately, Dr Twomey did not mention any of this in his speech. When his contribution ended, I immediately phoned his office to protest. He rang me back within 30 minutes.

I pointed out to him that, as someone who has already applied for a GMS number, I had no intention whatsoever of working in Dublin 4, and was not planning to practise out of a garage. I added that he had no right whatsoever to cast such aspersions over myself and my colleagues, many of whom are treating medical-card patients in some of the most GP-deprived parts of the country.

To be fair to Dr Twomey, he assured me that he was fully supportive of the bill, and that it would pass through the Dáil unaltered. He explained that he was merely trying to educate his fellow TDs on the reality of Irish general practice.

Well, Deputy Twomey, I have a simple message for you. If you support the Bill, then I would ask you to refrain from repeating the remarks made on November 10.

In return, I will try to restrain myself from ‘educating’ your Dáil colleagues on the culture of shafting, nepotism and blatant discrimination that has existed in Irish general practice for decades.

Comments

No comments submitted.