Browne: Pressure needs to be kept on HSE to secure new GP for Templemore

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Sinn Féin TD Martin Browne says it would be “absolute mayhem” to redistribute hundreds of Templemore residents to already overstretched GP practices.

The Tipperary TD has written to the HSE and Health Minister asking that everything possible be done to find a replacement for the retiring Dr Joe Hennessy.

There are fears that the HSE won’t source a replacement, forcing 700-800 people to find a new GP practice in the area.

Deputy Browne is hopeful that candidates will be found to assume the duty.

“We saw this locally here in Bansha a couple of years ago and the stress that it caused.”

“The HSE came on board eventually and solved that problem – the doctor that was retiring at the time was replaced. So we’re hoping – and we’ll be pushing very hard – that this is what happens in Templemore. It’s a town over the last 12 months that with the banks and all going that if this was to happen surgeries like that it puts a kind of black mark on the town.”