Westmeath sixth in table of GPs per 100,000 population
The number of GPs in Westmeath reduced by one between 2022 and 2023 (from 95 to 94), according to the Irish College of GPs, and that puts it sixth in a county rank of GPs per 100,000 population.
The professional body for general practice in Ireland, the College is also the representative organisation for education, training and standards in general practice. It has 4,500 members and associates comprising some 85% of practising GPs in the Republic of Ireland, and 1,191 GPs in training.
The college has analysed the recently published Workforce Intelligence Report 2023 from the Medical Council, which gives a comprehensive picture of the GP workforce.
It has used Medical Council data and its own data, and matched it against the most recent (2022) population growth figures.
That shows that the GP workforce is not expanding fast enough to meet growing demand.
In the map in Figure 1, the College shows GP supply per 100,000 population, with areas of low supply in red.
Table 1 details the GP headcounts for each county from the Medical Council Workforce reports from 2022 and 2023, which allows calculation of the percentage growth in GPs in each county.
The right-most column shows the number of GPs per 100,000 population in each county.
Dr Mike O’Callaghan, clinical research lead with the Irish College of GPs, said: “We have matched the Medical Council data with population data, to highlight counties where the GP workforce is not keeping pace with population increase.
“Table 1 below shows that there was a 3.1% increase in population last year, and a 0.6% rise in GP numbers.
“In addition, from Figure 1, (below) many counties – Meath, Monaghan, Kilkenny, Laois, Kildare, Clare, Leitrim – clearly have a deficit in their GP numbers.
“It seems that the pull of urban areas extends to the GP workforce as much as it does to the general population. Strong incentives and innovative solutions are required to ensure existing and new rural practices are supported into the future.”