For six years, SouthDoc, which provides the out-of-hours service in Cork, has done everything to remove its offices from the northside. In 2021, following a very strong public campaign, we got SouthDoc on the northside reopened. However, in the past number of years, services have been reduced. In January, a miracle happened. SouthDoc in Blackpool reopened. The reason was that the tender is due at the end of this month, so it was reopened because SouthDoc wants to get the tender again. The service is not going out to public tender; it is being renewed. I want a guarantee from the Minister that SouthDoc in Blackpool will remain open and will not be shut down next month. Another out-of-hours service, a private one called NorthDoc, has opened. My wife and daughter had to use it last weekend. They got an appointment within half an hour and they were in and out within 20 minutes after my daughter got what she needed. They were private patients. The service is not open to people with medical cards, who have to wait weeks to get an appointment with a doctor. They have to travel over to the Kinsale Road on the southside if they cannot get an appointment in Blackpool and then they cannot get access to NorthDoc because they are on medical cards. This is not good enough. People should have a right to attend GP services out of hours. Does the Minister know what else is happening? Some people cannot afford to go over to the southside and have told me they could not afford a taxi. What did they do? They went to the Mercy University Hospital accident and emergency department, which is the one place the HSE do not want people to go because accident and emergency departments are out the door already with overcrowding. This Government's inability to tackle SouthDoc and keep the clinic in Blackpool open is driving more people into accident and emergency departments. The people of the northside deserve to have an out-of-hours service. People are waiting weeks to see a GP. People with a medical card should not be treated like second-class citizen. Everyone has a right to attend a GP. I ask the Minister for that commitment today.

Sentiment score: -0.01