A Co Cavan woman has praised the work of the local community who recently fought for a permanent GP presence in Swanlinbar. Members of the Swanlinbar Development Association received confirmation from the HSE that they will be re-advertising for a permanent GP post in Swanlinbar. Speaking on today's Joe Finnegan Show, PRO of the Swanlinbar Development Association, Serena Prior credited "people power" for the HSE's latest decision to re-advertise the post. Serena also praised the plight by locals over the last number of weeks to save GP services in the local area. She added that the post will be advertised by the HSE in the coming weeks. The local community group first heard at the beginning of February that they would be losing their GP come February 28th due to a pilot scheme initiative proposed by the HSE. According to Serena the proposal caused "great worry" and "upset" which prompted a public meeting to be held with over 300 people in attendance.
Speaking on today's Joe Finnegan Show, Serena explained; "The proposal by the HSE was to get Ballyconnell to take over the practice in Swanlinbar on a three day basis. We have our own GP in Swanlinbar and we weren't willing to lose that. Overall, the experience has brought the whole community together and we are delighted to get the proposal reversed. We would sincerely like to thank all of our members for their tremendous work over the last five weeks. The campaign has been onerous and tiresome with over 50 hours of meetings, but it has built a great trusting relationship with our GP Dr Cristian Cimpoeru and both the local and neighbouring communities of West Cavan."
