I'd like to see that done for the entire health service.
There was a time when I might have agreed.
However, over Christmas I spent 5 hours in A & E with a relative before he was eventually seen by a doctor.
The relative had an infected cyst which needed to be drained. We first went to the local pharmacy, which told him to go to his GP.
The GP would not touch it; neither would the doctor in the VHI Swiftcare clinic. So we had nowhere else to go except A & E, even though we tried everything to avoid it.
My relative was mortified, sitting among relatives and friends of people who had suffered strokes, heart attacks, really serious injuries, etc., and when eventually seen, apologized profusely to the doctor for presenting in A & E with such a comparatively trivial complaint. The doctor was excellent and very kind, a complete gentleman. The procedure took about 40 minutes.
In reply to our questions, the doctor said that this could have been handled by either the GP or the VHI Swiftcare clinic, but it depended on the competence and experience of the doctor. He also said that the length of the procedure might deter some GPs as they could see several patients during that period.
Also, the triage nurse, whom we saw first, seemed to be sick and tired of patients being foisted on A & E, in particular by VHI Swiftcare clinics, with complaints they should be able to handle themselves and in addition charging patients €75 for the privilege of doing nothing other than writing a letter of referral.