There's no such thing as a freebie...

I wrote a piece for the Irish Daily Mail this week about the fact that no GP in our town has signed up for the free GP for under 6s scheme yet. Here it is in full for anyone who missed it...

MY eldest started pre-school this year and to say our home has become a hotbed for germs would be an understatement. I’ve started sleeping with a pile of towels next to the bed so I can catch projectile vomits before they penetrate to the mattress. I’ve become an expert at syringing antibiotics into the backs of their mouths so they can’t spit them out. From December to April alone, we’ve had six vomiting and diarrhoea bugs, two of which lasted more than a week per child, so low sugar levels and dehydration became a concern. And when you have three children aged four and under, that’s a lot of poop and puke to contend with. So yes, we visit the doctor. A lot. In fact, in one month alone over the course of the winter, we handed over €350 between visits to the GP and the out of hours service, SouthDoc. And that’s not taking into consideration the cost of prescriptions or the bottles of Calpol we’ve had to fork out for to deal with high temperatures and the likes.

When I heard that under 6s were getting free GP care, it was music to my ears. It’s not that I go running to the doctor with every cough and splutter, and I know there’s nothing they can do for viruses. But it’d be nice to know that money wasn’t a consideration when deciding whether or not your child’s illness warrants a visit. I’m a firm believer in trusting my gut instincts, so having to check my bank balance to make sure that I can actually afford to get expert medical advice is not a nice feeling.  So over the past few days, I’ve been checking and re-checking the list of GPs that have signed up to the free care for under-6s scheme in the hopes that my lovely family doctor will be on the list. Not only is she not, however, no GP in our area is. Clonakilty has no shortage of doctors - there are a few practices in the town itself and more in surrounding areas. But the only GPs I’ve seen on the list in West Cork are in Bantry. And I’m not going to be driving over an hour there with three children in the back of a car. It can be hard enough to keep kids settled in their car seats for a two-hour return trip at the best of times. But throw in sickness, high temperatures, nausea or whatever else into the mix, and that’d be no fun for anyone.

I love my GP. She’s on the ball, good with kids, is thorough and knows her stuff. She doesn’t prescribe anti biotics willy nilly and has even given me free advice over the phone on more than one occasion . But if another GP in town signed up for this scheme, I’d have to seriously consider changing. At the end of the day, we’re a young family and every cent is accounted for, with most months running pay cheque to  pay cheque. A €50 visit here and a €50 visit there all adds up and we really have to skimp on things like the food shopping if it’s been a heavy month for doctors visits. So far though, it seems that it’ll continue being a regular expense for our family. I've been told that when the youngest is seven, the what seems constant sickness will ease off and their immune systems will be hardy. Great. Only six more years to go then.