Politics, policy and action: lessons from rural GP advocacy in Ireland

Ireland has one of the most rural populations in Europe. Rurality presents challenges when accessing health services but should not be perceived as problematic and in need of a structural fix. Structural urbanism where health care is viewed as a commodity for individuals, rather than an infrastructure for populations, innately favours larger urban populations and has detrimental outcomes for rural health. In this article we present a brief account of advocacy led by rural GPs, their communities, and the political and policy implications of their efforts.

In the period 2010-2016, Irish rural general practices were struggling for viability. Two key financial supports, distance coding and the Rural Practice Allowance, were withdrawn. This directly contributed to the founding of the 'No Doctor No Village' public campaign, following which the Rural Practice Allowance took shape as the Rural Support Practice Framework and was expanded to cover a larger number of rural practices. The World Rural Health Conference in June 2022 at the University of Limerick invited over 600 expert delegates who contributed to the authorship of the Limerick Declaration, a blueprint for advancing rural health in Ireland and internationally. This created a new momentum in advocacy for Irish rural general practice, which has drawn financial investments, sparked research interest building capacity for a pipeline to train rural general practitioners.

Local voices have driven monumental change in the Irish healthcare context. For these communities, the policy and politics of rural health are mere tools to maintaining or restoring their way of life. The biggest lesson to be learned is that unrelenting community commitment, when supported by the capacity to advocate, can influence politics and policy to generate sustainable outcomes and thriving communities.