AIRPI member, Aileen O’Meara’s documentary “Doctors on Call” is due to be broadcast on Newstalk on 15th and 16th May.
“Doctors on Call” is a 45-minute radio documentary that brings a unique insight into the world of single-handed doctors, from the Aran Islands to Farranfore and Ballindine.
Up to the mid-90s about half of all Irish family doctors worked in single-handed practices, the majority in rural areas.
Now there’s a revolution occurring in general practice, and the generation of family doctors that lived their lives around their patients is dying out, with group practices and co-ops replacing the single-handed personal service.
“Doctors on call” is a 48-minute radio documentary that captures the stories of six unique family doctors working in rural Ireland: Dr Marion Broderick, the only GP on the Aran Islands; Dr Michael Harty who runs his own practice in rural county Clare; Dr Larry Fullam, the family doctor in Portarlingon in Co Laois for the past 35 years and his wife Dolores; Dr Eithne Conway-Magee, one of the first lady dispensary doctors in Galway; Dr Ken Egan who ran the dispensary practice in Ballindine in Mayo, and Dr Dick Shanahan, known as “Dr Dick” in Farranfore in Kerry.
Their personal stories of life as a GP since the 50s reflect the huge changes taking place in the lives of doctors at the coalface of the Irish health services. Colourful, passionate and insightful, “Doctors on Call” tells the listener about their work, their families and their lives as doctors.
Producer and health journalist Aileen O’Meara and journalist Dr Muiris Houston (who’s also a GP) collaborated on this production which records an aspect of Irish heritage which is disappearing fast, and explores a unique aspect of the Irish culture, heritage and experience relating to community-based health services in rural Ireland at a particular time in our history.
“Doctors on Call” was made with the assistance of the Sound and Vision scheme of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.
The programme will be broadcast on Newstalk on Saturday May 15th at 0.700hrs and will be repeated on Sunday evening May 16th at 20.10hrs.