The IMO today highlighted the crisis in GP manpower in rural Ireland. In an article in today's Irish Independent, Dr Padraig McGarry, Chairman of the IMO's GP Committee, said "The loss of general practice in rural areas is similar to the loss of many services in rural Ireland. We have an increasingly older population of GPs facing retirement and young GPs are not prepared to come in under present circumstances of excessive hours and poor supports". You can read the full article here

Below is a graphic showing a breakdown of the percentage of doctors who will reach retirement age in the next 7 years.