10-day wait to see doctor in Trim - Cllrs told

The difficulty in accessing GP services was raised by Trim councillor Ronan Moore at last week's local municipal district meeting where he told how one man who had been involved in a road traffic accident was told he would have to wait ten days to see a doctor.

"It seems to be an issue across the country but certainly in Trim I have never seen it as bad in terms of access to GP services and the knock on effects it is having," said Cllr Moore.

He said he was talking to someone who had been involved in a road traffic accident and was trying to make an appointment to follow up and was told that ten days was the best that they could do.

"At another popular GP practice, someone was trying for half an hour and nobody picked up. It is not a criticism of the GP services. Doctors are overstretched, reception staff are overstretched, everyone is overstretched," said Cllr Moore, but added that the knock on effect is that people are waiting until after 6pm and ringing doctor-on-call, or going directly to the hospitals.

He suggested that they write a letter expressing their concern to the HSE.

Cllr Joe Fox also spoke of how new people moving into the area could not get to register with local GPS and are having to travel back to Dublin to access a GP.

He said this was not just an issue in Trim but also Ballivor and Longwood.

Cllr Fox spoke of the knock-on effects and said it was "clogging up A&E and clogging up doctor-on-call". He said while there were a lot of GPs in Trim, it wasn't enough.

Councillors agreed to write to HSE to express their concerns about access to GP services and the knock on effects it is having.