The introduction of free childhood GP services for Irish children has seen a nearly 30 per cent increase in GP visits, according to new Trinity research.
When free GP service for children aged six and under was introduced in 2015, 440,000 children gained access to the scheme. A new study, conducted by researchers at the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at Trinity’s School of Medicine, reveals that there has been a 29 per cent increase in daytime GP visits and a 26 per cent increase in out-of-hours visits.
The scheme was introduced by then-Minister of Health, Leo Varadkar. The new study was led by Dr Michael O’Callaghan, a researcher in the School of Medicine.
“It is no surprise really that GP services are used more often when free”, O’Callaghan said. “This study shows conclusively that large numbers of additional children availed of GP services and availed of these services more often once they gained free access. Our study also demonstrates the ‘knock-on’ effect of the under 6s contract in the out-of-hours service, which experienced a disproportionately large spike in numbers of children under 6 attending.”
The study involved an examination of visitation data from eight GP practices in North Dublin and their local out-of-hours service. The research was recently published in the journal Annals of Family Medicine.
The study found that while the use of daytime and out-of-hours services increased across all age categories over the study period, children under six were responsible for the majority of the increased workload. Forty-five per cent of additional visits to daytime GP services in the year after the introduction of free care were made by children under six. Children under six were also responsible for 73 per cent of the increase in visits to out-of-hours services.
“This study shows conclusively that large numbers of additional children availed of GP services and availed of these services more often once they gained free access. Our study also demonstrates the ‘knock-on’ effect of the under 6s contract in the out-of-hours service, which experienced a disproportionately large spike in numbers of children under 6 attending. GP services in Ireland are getting busier in general, and this was also demonstrated in this study, with GPs seeing more patients of all ages in the second year of the study”, O’Callaghan said.
In a press statement, Prof Tom O’Dowd, Fellow Emeritus in the Department of Public Health & Primary Care, said: “This study shows that workload planning is required when any changes to GP access are made. If not, access to front line GP services will be undermined for everyone.”
Correction: 17:00, May 15th, 2018
An earlier version of this article incorrectly spelt the name of the journal Annals of Family Medicine. This has since been corrected.
