Out-of-hours GP service to be extended to Ballinasloe

Over €400,000 in Government funding is to be made available to extend an 'out of hours' GP service to Ballinasloe and parts of South East Galway.

The chairperson of the Ballinasloe Municipal District, Cllr Dr Evelyn Francis Parsons, said she recently received confirmation from TD Denis Naughten that a funding allocation of €426,000 had been secured from the Department of Health.

She said this money would be used to provide an out of hours GP service for patients of practices in Ballinasloe (Dunlo Medical Centre and Marina House Medical) and in South East Galway (Lawrencetown, Kiltormer, Eyrecourt and Kilconnell)

Cllr Parsons, who said rural GP services have been "creaking" in East Galway, described the new funding as "a welcome and major" development.

"It will ensure that the patients in these practices will be able to access the WestDoc out of hours GP service at last - a service which is available throughout the rest of East Galway, and the county," she said.

Fianna Fáil Senator Eugene Murphy also welcomed the funding allocation, saying he hoped the extended out of hours service would be up and running in the coming months.

He said the absence of the service was something he had been aware of for some time and it was an issue that had been of concern to the general public.