Urgent need for medical services

Urgent need for medical services

By Aideen O'Flaherty

A PUBLIC meeting focused on campaigning for medical services in Fettercairn was held in Fettercairn Community Centre on Tuesday evening (January 22), with locals saying they felt like “forgotten people”, reports Aideen O’Flaherty.

As previously reported in The Echo, a number of local councillors have stated that there is an “urgent need” for GP services in Fettercairn, and this issue has been raised at meetings of the Tallaght Area Committee and the Joint Meeting of the Acute Hospital Services and Populations Health and Primary, Community and Continuing Care Committees.

Village Main St

Residents say there is an urgent need for medical services in Fettercairn

Before Christmas, members of People Before Profit went door to door in Fettercairn with a petition about bringing medical services to the area, and gathered over 500 signatures from people who wanted medical services to be located there.

Shay L’Estrange, who is the manager of Fettercairn Community Centre but is involved in the campaign for medical services in a personal capacity as a member of People Before Profit, told The Echo: “I work in the area, and I’m very familiar with the area and I’ve gotten to understand a lot of the needs of the people here.

“One of the things that struck me when I started working here was the lack of medical services.

“We did a door knock just before Christmas, and the response was 100 per cent positive – everybody agreed that there was a need for medical services in the area.

“We need complete wrap-around medical services, but a GP would be a good starting point – they could even offer add-on services, like having a chiropodist in the surgery a day a week.”

Emma Hendrick, a People Before Profit councillor for Tallaght South, organised a meeting to bring the community together on Tuesday and to discuss the provision of medical services in Fettercairn.

Cllr Hendrick said: “We’ve decided we’re going to set up an action group, to put pressure on everybody in the run-up to the local elections to back up this proposal for medical services in Fettercairn.

“When people were speaking at the meeting, they said that Fettercairn has great community spirit – but community spirit can’t write you a prescription.

“They said that they were the forgotten people.

“We’re going to have to go out there and push for these services.”

A spokesperson for the HSE was contacted for comment, but they did not respond in time for print.

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