The Government needs to come up with a financial package to induce GPs to work in rural areas across the country – with the lack of local doctors already impacting on the health of local communities in Galway.

Galway County Councillor Andrew Reddington made his call against the backdrop of a reality that sees so many rural doctors on the verge of retiring – with no one available to take on their practices.

Referring to his local town of Headford, the councillor said that one local doctor is retiring, and it was proving extremely difficult to find a replacement.

“There is a national shortage of GPs and rural areas are the worst hit. It is hard for a doctor to set up a practice in a rural area,” Cllr Reddington said.

He has been told there is ‘no quick fix’ to this situation due to shortages in GPs qualifying and it was also hard to attract qualified doctors to country areas. “The fact that one in seven working GPs are over 65 means many are retiring while others are leaving rural general practice due to the various other challenges,” he said.

“The situation is becoming so unattractive because of the workloads and the demand on their time.

“We are lucky to have two GPs in the town (Headford) who are working around the clock – but the area is vast and I received 20 direct calls this week alone on the impending retirement of a local doctor.”

He has approached Chief Officer for Community Healthcare West Breda Crehan Roche regarding the retirement of a GP position in his local area.

He has been informed that the position has been advertised and interviews will be held in the next few weeks, if eligible applications are received for the position.

“This will come as a relief for many patients, but we will have to wait until the interview process is complete before we can inform the public where the new doctor will be based,” he added.