DONEGAL Coroner and Stranorlar GP, Dr. Denis McCauley, will become Irish Medical Organisation president in April, Donegal News has learned.
“Of course it’s an honour. The Irish Medical Organisation is unique in that it’s the union for all doctors. It represents non-consultant hospital doctors, consultants, GPs, public health doctors, and community health doctors.
“It has the remit to negotiate terms and conditions of its members but it also has an advocacy role for patients to ensure that they get the best care,” explained Dr. McCauley.
Having graduated from Trinity College in 1985, and following an internship in Dublin’s Adelaide Hospital, Dr. McCauley completed his General Practice training in Donegal before commencing work in Millbrae Surgery, Stranorlar, in 1990. It’s been revealed that Donegal almost missed out on the good doctor.
“I was heading to Canada but then a post came up in Stranorlar and I took it. I’ve been a GP here ever since.”
Clearly, none of his original enthusiasm has dissipated.
“The whole concept of medicine is still fascinating to me.”
It’s understood Dr. McCauley will become the first ever president of the IMO from Donegal. He speaks modestly about the achievement but doesn’t understate the challenge.
“It’s an important role, particularly when our health service is in its current state. It’s incumbent on the president to highlight the infrastructural deficits, the fact that 1 in 5 consultancy posts are not filled. We need another 2,000 consultants in Ireland.”
Dr. McCauley claims more than half of doctors who qualify in Ireland each year choose to leave the country due to conditions here.
“There is not a functioning medical service at present because all the doctors are stressed. They come onto a stressed hospital ward and leave their place of work knowing that their day’s work has not been completed. This is having a significant impact on the health of the nation.”
As IMO president, Dr. McCauley pledges to advocate on behalf of both doctors and patients.
“Currently we are not preventing illnesses. We’re missing early diagnoses which means we’re not treating appropriately. Political decisions are now being made that will increase the workload on a service that doesn’t have the ability to handle that workload. In this regard, I’ll be there to inform, advocate and influence,” he said.
Of course, Dr. McCauley’s role is national but he’s not shy about revealing that he’ll be pushing for improvements locally.
“All of the dangers that are presently in our national infrastructure are exaggerated in Donegal. The national average for bed occupancy is about 90% while in Letterkenny hospital it’s 96%. It’s an unhealthy and detrimental situation.
“The inability of Letterkenny to hold onto consultants and have any continuity is, once again, an exaggerated situation vis-a-vis what pertains in the rest of Ireland.
“All of the different health agencies that we deal with are mostly telling us what they can’t do for us. They don’t act like they’re offering a service and trying to help us treat patients,” according to the doctor.
He also claims that Letterkenny University Hospital has the 6th highest in-patient numbers in all of Ireland but funding for our hospital fails to reflect this.
“The money spent per patient in Donegal is much less than you would see in other parts of the country. That has a detrimental effect on doctors and nurses, and on the health of our county.”
Many shortcomings at LUH were highlighted throughout 2023 and the findings from a probe into the hospital’s Emergency Department are due to be published soon. Dr. McCauley insists we will either be disappointed or reassured by the outcome of all the lobbying that took place last year.
“There has been a lot of campaigning and a lot of listening but ultimately we have to see what the results of that process are. Will there be more hospital beds? Will it mean that consultants will opt to work in Letterkenny and stay? Will there be an improvement regarding how junior doctors are treated in Letterkenny hospital?
“The decision-makers have engaged with us and that’s fine but achieving measurable and realistic results is a different question. So, we’ll have to wait and see,” concluded Dr. McCauley.
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere
SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT EDITION TODAY
and get access to our archive editions dating back to 2007(CLICK ON THE TITLE BELOW TO SUBSCRIBE)