HSE rules out return of Midoc service to major Offaly town

A HSE executive told a recent Council meeting that a major Offaly town will not be getting a Midoc service.

This out of hours GP service was withdrawn from the town a few years ago and hasn't been restored since. After its closure hundreds of concerned locals attended a meeting in Dooly's Hotel, demanding its reopening, but their request has fallen on deaf ears.

“There are no plans to have a Midoc service in the town,” Joe Ruane of the HSE told the February meeting of Birr Municipal District.

He was responding to a call from a number of the councillors of Birr MD for the reinstatement of the service.
Cllr John Clendennen said he had been told by local GPs that a Midoc service in Birr wasn't logistically possible.

As it stands, people from the District travel to Tullamore or Athlone for an out of hours service. Mr Ruane said a number of GPs in the county are on the Tullamore Midoc roster. He reminded people that Midoc is for urgent care only and often people don't realise this.

Cllr Clare Claffey commented that she was very disappointed to be told there are no plans to re-open Midoc in Birr.

“I was told that there will be space set aside in the new Birr Primary Care Centre after it opens in the third quarter of 2024 for the possible reinstatement of Midoc. I presume that will be the case? Many people in Birr District want an out of hours GP service. It is very important that we have one. I recently had to travel late at night with a sick child to Midoc in Tullamore. It was no joke. The experience would have been less stressful if I only had to travel a shorter distance to Birr.”

Mr Ruane said the HSE's focus at the moment is only on the existing services in the town.

The closure of Midoc services in Birr and Edenderry nearly four years ago, in April 2018, caused outrage across Offaly, with a number of local councillors and residents expressing dismay at the news.

At the time Cllr Peter Ormond claimed the service in Birr was closed "without warning".

Speaking to the press a HSE spokesperson said, "a decision to close the two satellite part-time cells in Birr and Edenderry, with effect from Monday 2nd April 2018, has been made after a full review and assessment of the service provision for the entire county. Participating GPs and HSE in Offaly believe a better out-of-hours service can be delivered to patients by reorganising the current structures in Midoc Offaly, which will increase availability of call outs and home visits to elderly patients unable to travel to the centre."

The Midoc Service was established in Birr in December, 2002.

An independent review was undertaken in 2017 which identified concerns in the areas of clinical risk, medical emergencies, and lone worker.

"These concerns," a HSE spokesperson said, "relate specifically to locum doctors on duty working with no clinical support, the ability to manage independently when presented with a medical emergency and the personal safety of the doctor while working alone in Birr and Edenderry."