Doctors/GPs

mar2012

Can anyone recommend a good GP near Headford Road direction or nearby as am willing to travel for a good GP. Thanks.

biko

Fella mentioned here in the shopping centre
http://www.nuigalway.ie/health_unit/

babii

Ive just found out im pregnant I have had two previous miscarraiges afew years back and want to change my doctor before i have to go see him with this pregnancy as he was just terrible with my last two pregnancies and wouldnt do anything to help me get early scans or check my hcg levels regularly can anyone reccomend any doctors in galway city on the medical card that are more helpful and caring towards these matters? Im still a bit clueless as to any help i can get with these matters

Paddyfield

I seriously recommend www.rollercoaster.ie
It is a brilliant irish parenting website and you will got a lot of suggestions based n experience there.

Good luck with the pregnancy.

babii

thank you

chuky_r_law

i am changing doctors from seacrest surgeries in knocknacarra. i am looking for a doctor either in the knocknacarra or bearna area that works later in the evening, to about 7pm or 8pm. have called a few but seems most only allow you to get sick in normal working hours. can anyone recommend anyone?

(would also consider salthill, moycullen or spiddal)

Seaneh

There's one on clybaun road called clybaun surgery, nice fella.

Mrs OBumble

chuky_r_law wrote: »

. that works later in the evening, to about 7pm or 8pm. have called a few but seems most only allow you to get sick in normal working hours.

Please report back if you find anyone - I suspect a few people would be interested.

ErnieBert

www.kingstonmedicalcentre.com beside Capones. They arranged a late evening appointments for one of my kids last year which was very handy. It is a new practice so I guess they are looking for business.

I am very satisfied with the standard of care and have switched my 'business' from another doctor with whom I was attending for seemingly decades.

gaeilgegrinds1

I attend Dr.Waters, she's amazing.

chuky_r_law

ErnieBert wrote: »

www.kingstonmedicalcentre.com beside Capones. They arranged a late evening appointments for one of my kids last year which was very handy. It is a new practice so I guess they are looking for business.

I am very satisfied with the standard of care and have switched my 'business' from another doctor with whom I was attending for seemingly decades.

no good. only do 9 to 5. mentioned that id have to go to west doc outside business hours. and west doc aint cheap afaik

chuky_r_law

gaeilgegrinds1 wrote: »

I attend Dr.Waters, she's amazing.

amazing she may be, but she only works til 6pm. i asked did she know about any other places that would be open til about 7.30/8pm and she said she didn't. asked again how come no place offers this i was told that it was so doctors could have 'a bit of a life!'(pretty sure this was the receptionist and not the doc!)

seems to me that they very much do the job to suit themselves. westdoc is a good service but if you want to see your doctor, as in a doctor you have built up a relationship with over the years, then westdoc is useless, as chances are you will be seeing a new doctor everytime.

?Cee?view

chuky_r_law wrote: »

seems to me that they very much do the job to suit themselves.

Why shouldn't they? They're providing a service like any other service and they're a profession like any other profession. If you need medical attention in an emergency there are other ways to access it out of hours.

chuky_r_law

churchview wrote: »

Why shouldn't they? They're providing a service like any other service and they're a profession like any other profession. If you need medical attention in an emergency there are other ways to access it out of hours.

it is not about seeking emergency sevices out of hours. its about having a doctor that you can see reguarly outside of the normal working hours, which are the hours that most people work. as i said before, westdoc is fine, but anytime you go there you are almost guarunteed to be seeing a new doctor. its a bit impersonal.

and sure, it is totally up to themselves what hours they work. they are self employed afterall. but its just a bit annoying that seeing as there are so many doctors around that none seem to work hours that would suit me better. as one poster mentioned already, if i do find out somewhere that does open later (and i am only thinking about it being open til 8pm) to mention it here as she thinks there would be a lot of people who would want to know.

so back to the original question....anyone know of a doctor or medical practice that operates later than normal working hours (9am-6pm)?

?Cee?view

chuky_r_law wrote: »

so back to the original question....anyone know of a doctor or medical practice that operates later than normal working hours (9am-6pm)?

I think you've hit on something here.

GPs consider themselves professionals but the vast majority seem to miss the point that they're also running businesses. I know of quite a few GPs who are out of work these days and those that have established practices are finding practice incomes significantly down. They need to start acting more like the business people that they seem not to realise they are, and provide the service that the public obviously wants i.e. out of hours service.

Innovative thinking and change amongst medics would be somewhat revolutionary though...

Paddyfield

chuky_r_law wrote: »

no good. only do 9 to 5. mentioned that id have to go to west doc outside business hours. and west doc aint cheap afaik

FROM THEIR WEBSITE:

We conveniently offer early morning and late evening appointments...

chuky_r_law

Paddyfield wrote: »

FROM THEIR WEBSITE:

We conveniently offer early morning and late evening appointments...

only an emergency service

Gold Leaf Tea

I think Dr Declan Larkin in Knocknacarra does early morning appointments, or at least he did do, might be worth giving a ring to find out.

Mrs OBumble

churchview wrote: »

Why shouldn't they? They're providing a service like any other service and they're a profession like any other profession. If you need medical attention in an emergency there are other ways to access it out of hours.

Sure, but it wouldn't kill them to be a bit less arrogant, and tailor their work practices to suit their customers.

Physios are also a profession, and some practises do a late-evening clinic once or twice a week, I can't see why some doctors can't do the same.

Personally I hate the way that so many GP's sole-trade: it means that their service-hours have to be worked around what it's possible for one person to do. Also, they don't have colleagues immediately at hand to

1) keep an informal eye on each other's professional standards,
2) provide a sounding board / alternative perspective without a formal second opinion,
3) provide cover when someone's off sick etc.
4) generate enough business to have a practise nurse and professional admin services
5) develop any areas of speciality within the practise.

Practises that do once-off early and late appointments for emergencies aren't the point - many things are non-acute, and don't justify time off work for the rest of us. No reason why we shouldn't be able to see a doctor in the evening.

And I reckon this lack of accessibility is one of the reasons men - who are statistically more likely to be working full time, normally - don't go to the doctor when they should, too.

The bit about "the doctor having a life" is a line too: plenty of GPs would like to work part-time while they have young families or whatever - it should be easy enough to staff a clinic from, say, 2-8pm three days a week.

chuky_r_law

Gold Leaf Tea wrote: »

I think Dr Declan Larkin in Knocknacarra does early morning appointments, or at least he did do, might be worth giving a ring to find out.

will try but it is really evening time i am looking for

but thanks

seriouslysweet

My parents are both doctors, they are not GPs though. Their friends who are GPS primarily did it, in my parents opinions, for the lifestyle.
Their money is woeful, it's the only perk. I think they're well entitled to take time off, how are they expected to be good parents etc otherwise.

ErnieBert

chuky_r_law wrote: »

only an emergency service

I don't know where you are getting your info but it bears no similarity to my experience.

My other half rang to see if either of the doctors in the Kingston Medical practice could see our daughter at a later time and they said yes. It wasn't an emergency but it was urgent for us. Their opening times didn't suit us on that day. The doctor came in especially to see us and didn't charge more than normal.

This is effectively a business. It was a successful exercise in customer satisfaction. It was also a case of a medical professional caring for a patient.

Mrs OBumble

seriouslysweet wrote: »

My parents are both doctors, they are not GPs though. Their friends who are GPS primarily did it, in my parents opinions, for the lifestyle.
Their money is woeful, it's the only perk. I think they're well entitled to take time off, how are they expected to be good parents etc otherwise.

I'm kinda picking that "woeful" money from a doctor's perspective may be a little different from many of the rest of us.

No one is saying that individual doctors should work 8am - 8pm every day. But I am saying they should organize their practices to provide a range of appointment times for patients.

As for how they can be good parents - well, the same way that engineers, lawyers, accountants etc do it ...

?Cee?view

JustMary wrote: »

I'm kinda picking that "woeful" money from a doctor's perspective may be a little different from many of the rest of us.

Actually these days that kind of depends. It took me a long time to get my head around it too as I always thought that GP practices were licences to print money. Turns out, some of them are, but not all.

Amongst GPs, I'm told Galway is notorious. It's very hard for a new or recently qualified GP to get a practice going. They have to really work for others. Existing practices have seen their private income plummet, so they've cut back on overhead which includes employed doctors. Those now unemployed doctors can't set up practices as the medical card "lists" are sown up among the established guys. Off the top of my head I can think of three local unemployed GPs that I know.

It really is incredible the way things have changed.

You're right JustMary. Their attitude in a lot of cases still is v poor (and I'm being generous here). I've little sympathy for the many of them who've treated their patients as cash cows for years. I've some for those who are struggling and who recognise that as medics they are not a breed apart, but are in the same boat as the rest of us in all kinds of ways.

gaeilgegrinds1

My OH is a doctor, not a GP though. I asked what would the new GPs that started on 9th July make, far less than I started teaching on. It's genuinely, 'woeful,' as was suggested here. They have ten years training. I'd say many of the newbies are struggling, they lost an allowance for €11,500. They USED to make mad money, not anymore. Look up what their insurance and pay is before you go thinking they've a golden goose, not anymore!
As for GPs in Galway, there are only a handful I'd say are worth going to, many are riding it out til retirement.

?Cee?view

gaeilgegrinds1 wrote: »

...many are riding it out til retirement.

Unfortunately have to agree with you on this.

gaeilgegrinds1

It's an awful shame as I know of a few excellent GPs who were only dying to get their teeth into Galway work...now they're all in Oz.

Sleepy

Been a long time since he was my own GP as I moved to Dublin a decade ago but I'd second the recommendation for Dr. Larkin. He has a great manner and, what really impressed me at the time was that on hearing I have astigmatism he asked if he could take a look at my eyes so he'd be able to recognise it in other patients. That to me is the sign of a pro in any industry: someone who knows they don't know everything and is interested in improving themselves.

chuky_r_law

Sleepy wrote: »

Been a long time since he was my own GP as I moved to Dublin a decade ago but I'd second the recommendation for Dr. Larkin. He has a great manner and, what really impressed me at the time was that on hearing I have astigmatism he asked if he could take a look at my eyes so he'd be able to recognise it in other patients. That to me is the sign of a pro in any industry: someone who knows they don't know everything and is interested in improving themselves.

im sure he is a wonderful doctor but he does not do evening time appointments, which is the whole point of the thread! i did ring his office and he does work an early shift on thursday mornings, beginning at 8.30am, but other than that he finishes at 5.15pm

Mrs OBumble

churchview wrote: »

... Those now unemployed doctors can't set up practices as the medical card "lists" are sown up among the established guys.

I believe that's due to HSE policy that a new practise won't be accepted onto the medical card list for its first year or two. (Don't know to what extent that policy is dictated by existing GPs .. wouldn't surprise me if it is.)

This means that new practises need to tough it out with only private patients for the first while.

chuky_r_law

one final word on this. seeing as i couldn't find a doctor that works til later in the evening during the week i called westdoc. asked if i could see the doctor. however since i dont have a doctor that is in the westdoc co-op i would not be allowed to see the doctor on duty!
i ended up having to ring my old doctor, who i would have preferred not to, to get the number for the out of hours doctor in bon secours. rang them and was only allowed see the doctor if i said that i was a patient of my old doctor(its a similar arangment to west doc). now , i have no relationship with my old doc, i would prefer not to see them again. but to see a doctor outside of normal hours i have to say that they still are my current doctor.
so if i cannot find a doctor that works outside the normal 9-5 hours (except for emergencies) it means i cannot access the emergency gp services like westdoc and the bon secours attending gp.