Dr Martin Daly TD has called on the Health Service Executive (HSE) to urgently strengthen rural GP surgeries and primary care centres against extreme weather events. With storms becoming more frequent, he stressed the need to keep essential services fully operational. Recent storms left many rural healthcare facilities without electricity, internet, and phone lines, severely disrupting patient care. While GP surgeries remained open, service outages affected referrals, lab results, and communications.
Dr Daly has urged the HSE to assess risks and implement contingency plans, including investment in backup power sources such as generators and alternative communication networks, including satellite broadband, to ensure uninterrupted service.
“The recent storms exposed major gaps in rural healthcare,” he said. “GPs continued to see patients, but without power, internet, and phone lines, essential services such as referrals, lab results, and communication were disrupted. The HSE must act now to ensure GP surgeries can continue functioning as normal, even in extreme weather.”
He also called for the Government and HSE to collaborate with emergency response agencies, utility providers, and telecoms companies to develop a national risk mitigation strategy for rural healthcare. “We need reliable power, stable communication, and backup systems in place so GP surgeries can continue services as if the storm didn’t happen,” he said.
Dr Daly warned that climate change is already impacting rural healthcare and urged the HSE to prioritise resilience planning. “Extreme weather will only become more frequent,” he said. “We must act now to ensure no rural community is left vulnerable.” He pledged to continue advocating for investment in rural healthcare resilience.
