You are cordially invited to attend the (in- person) AGM of the Rural Island & Dispensing Doctors of Ireland (RIDDI) which is incorporated as the Institute of Rural Health CLG.AGM will take place in the Hodson Bay Hotel Athlone on 7th June 2025 at 12.30 pm.
Agenda: Minutes of previous AGM / Conflict of interest/ Chairmans Report/ Annual accounts & Financial Report / Reappointment of Auditors/ Election of Officers & Directors/Matters of Importance and urgency.
RIDDI has been promoting the rural agenda as an independent entity, on an entirely voluntary basis, working in partnership with the IMO and the ICGP, to better represent rural and island doctors in the work they do, as well as working in partnership with other rural stakeholders including third level institutions and our local universities. Our annual conference has provided an opportunity over the decades for rural doctors to meet and discuss matters of importance and relevance as well as having an academic and social content. We are grateful for the support of the IMO and ICGP who have worked tirelessly with us in advancing our rural agenda and liaising with us at our annual conferences over the years. The 38th Annual RIDDI Conference is scheduled for Mulranny from 17th to 19th October 2025.
Thanks to the support of our long- term friend and mentor and EURIPA founder Professor John Wynn Jones, we were glad to be involved in bidding for and organising World WONCA 2022 in equal partnership with the ICGP and University of Limerick Medical School.
The Limerick Declaration was the legacy from that as well as our own RIDDI Statement. Already much progress has been made in realising its ambitions including the appointment of Professor Peter Hayes as the first Professor of Rural Practice who is based in the University of Limerick. We also welcome the appointment of Professor Robert Scully as the first Professor of Rural and Remote Medicine in University of Galway. Both Peter and Robert, as well as Professor Liam Glynn, attended with Teresa and I when we made our joint bid in Albuquerque New Mexico for World Rural WONCA 2022 to be held in University of Limerick. Liam now heads the ICGP Rural Standing Committee, with RIDDI represented on that committee by Dr Pat Harrold and Dr Catherine Donnelly.
RIDDI Board Members include Dr Jerry Cowley (Chairman) Dr Frank Fogarty (Vice- Chair)
Dr Catherine Donnelly (Secretary & ICGP Rural Cttee RIDDI Representative.
Teresa Cowley (Honorary Treasurer)
Dr Pat Harrold (PRO & ICGP Rural Cttee RIDDI Representative)
Dr Billy O’Connell (Rural WONCA /Euripa Liaison Officer)
Dr Marion Broderick (Islands Representative)
Professor Peter Hayes (Professor of Rural Practice UL)
While some progress had been made, the crisis in rural practice continues unabated with serious issues pertaining to the recruitment and retention of rural GPs.
We are concerned about the ever- increasing number of already vacant rural practices as well as locum “doctor-in-charge” practices, with locum agencies providing the service commonly costing the taxpayer multiples perhaps of what it cost to run the same practice originally.
The unequal unwinding of FEMPI with the removal of the distance codes, meant that rural and singlehanded doctors were the collateral damage. The failure to reintroduce this entirely fair system of payment was the final stab in the back for rural doctors and their patients and caused a disproportionately high percentage of rural practices to become unviable, affecting vulnerable populations of older people in particular. RIDDI believes these struggling isolated rural and island practices should have at least two doctors, so that both GPs can take statutory leave, and retiring doctors can have an assistant GP so allowing them to remain in practice longer to work part time, and get extra work done, keeping people locally and out of A & E and hospital wards. The well- intentioned International Medical Graduates Scheme has been a complete disaster for those most in need of an assistant due to an inability to fund the second doctor. We regret that a number of rural colleagues have already left their permanent and pensionable positions due to the financial inability to hire an assistant, and many doctors hoping to recruit an assistant to stay longer in practice have been forced into retirement. The solution involving HSE funding an assistant through the International Graduates Scheme or through the RIDDI Two-for-one would be a lifeline for those single practices struggling to survive and make great financial sense, compared to the high- cost Locum ‘Doctor -in Charge’ and packed A & E Departments. HSE provided funding for the International Medical Graduate is now IMO Policy.
All Rural Practice allowances urgently need to be brought up to a level equivalent to capitation increases in recent years including the locum practice allowance. There needs to be guaranteed practice premises set-up supports for all single-handed and rural GPs to ensure adequate recruitment and retention.
Ireland has been well served by their single-handed family doctors for generations. The continuity of care has been second to none, and its great benefit is proven by hard research.
The ongoing difficulty is that single- handed GP practices are disappearing fast and inner city and more rural areas are more likely to continue to fail to attract or retain a permanent GP.
The reasons are well known including difficulty taking statutory leave due to lack of locums, burnout and the responsibility of running a medical practice with ever increasing workload.
The inordinate effects post FEMPI on rural practice and the general inability of single- handed GPs to benefit from the well – intentioned International Medical Graduate Programme (due to an inability to fund the second GP) means there is no real solution in sight for the single-handed GP struggling to hold on in their practice, and for those areas struggling to recruit/ retain a permanent GP. The situation is going to get worse.
Our voice is critical to helping us achieve progress in better addressing the crisis in rural practice that has befallen us. Your presence at the RIDDI AGM would be greatly appreciated.
Dr Jerry Cowley Chairman
On behalf of RIDDI on 18/05/2025.