The Deep End Ireland group is made up of General Practitioners (GPs) working in the most disadvantaged communities across the country. It was established in 2012 by Dr Susan Smith. Since then the group has worked to address health inequities and to tackle the Inverse Care Law – this states that people who most need good quality health care are often the least likely to receive it. Access to high quality healthcare is an important determinant of health. Inequitable access to that care is an unintentional yet powerful driver of health inequities. Currently there is a flat distribution of health resources in Ireland, and as a group we believe that those resources should be targeted with consideration of the needs of the population being served. 

It is well established that there are higher health needs in areas of deprivation. Despite this, there are relatively fewer GPs working in deprived communities compared to more affluent communities. This results in higher patient to GP ratios in these areas. In order to provide more equitable care, the GP to patient ratios should be based on patient need. There are also large variations in access to other clinical and social care services including child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), psychology, speech and language therapy (SLT), social workers and disability services. We advocate for targeted action to strengthen primary care and general practice teams in areas of deprivation. This “equity-focused funding” would start to address the Inverse Care Law.