Dr Eamonn Shanahan: ‘Patients appreciate that Irish general practice is very personal’

Kerry GP Dr Eamonn Shanahan will retire as a GP partner later this month. He speaks to Niamh Cahill
about his family’s history in general practice and his long career in medicine

Doctors have long been renowned for their poor handwriting. For many within the profession, it’s simply a running joke.

But as a schoolboy intending to pursue a medical career, Kerry native Dr Eamonn Shanahan was already working to ensure his writing skills would be beyond question.

“When I was in secondary school, because of the caricature of GPs’ writing being bad, I did art for the Junior Cert and I did calligraphy as part of art to try to learn how to write correctly and neatly,” Dr Shanahan recalled light-heartedly.

Dr Shanahan told the Medical Independent (MI) that despite both his father and grandfather being GPs, it was “not a given” he would do medicine, even though it was a career he wanted to pursue from an early age.

As he looks towards his retirement after 38 years in general practice, Dr Shanahan also recalled that he considered psychiatry for a time during his medical studies.

However, after a week working with Prof Bill Shannon at his Cork GP practice in the 1980s, “that was it; that was what nailed it for me”.

“He was very much a mentor and very much the reason why I specifically chose to do general practice,” he says.

Dr Shanahan completed the Cork GP training scheme before returning to his father’s practice in Farranfore in 1986, where he has practised ever since.

Professionalism

Even a cursory look at Dr Shanahan’s career illustrates his deep involvement in the development of general practice since that time.

“For me, part of professionalism in general practice is that it should be expected that there is a certain amount of giving; that you give back to the profession,” he told MI.

These values have remained steadfast over the past 38 years. It is perhaps why, upon officially retiring as GP partner at the end of this year, Dr Shanahan will continue to work part-time “for the foreseeable future”.

So it’s sort of a “semi-retirement”?

“Now you have it,” he responded.

Next year, Dr Shanahan will work as an employee at his former practice. He will continue doing sessional work in chronic disease management. He will also assist with delivering tutorials for GP trainees, despite officially retiring as a trainer this year.

When not working, he plans to pursue some of his many hobbies in the areas of travel, photography, and music, in the company of his wife Margaret.

Dr Shanahan played piano up until he sat the Leaving Certificate, but has not played since. He plans to take-up the instrument once again and to see more live music events to reignite his passion for music.

Looking back, Dr Shanahan remembers setting goals throughout his career. During the first 10 years in practice, he aimed to get established and build a practice premises, an objective he completed in 1996.

The next decade, he said, was spent consolidating “what was there”. From 2004 onwards he took on three practice partners and engaged in many activities within the Irish College of GPs.

“For a long time I was interested in chronic disease management [CDM]. When I was Chairman of the College from 2004 to 2007, I remember one of my reports to the AGM was that general practice is the natural home for chronic disease management, if appropriately resourced,” he remarks.

“But it wasn’t until much later that CDM was formerly established after contract negotiations between the IMO and HSE.”

Experience

Dr Shanahan is currently the Immediate-Past President of the Irish College of GPs. He served as President from May 2023 to June 2024. He has also held many other roles throughout his career – including as Kerry Airport Medical Officer, Iarnród Éireann Medical Officer, Director at out-of-hours GP Co-op Southdoc, Medical Officer at Tralee Community Nursing Unit, Medical Officer at the Grove Treatment Addiction Centre, and Provost and Faculty Fellowship Lead of the Royal College of General Practitioners (Republic of Ireland Faculty). He was also involved in the local branch of the IMO for a few years.

Currently, he sits on the board of the College. He said he will be there until next May when the AGM takes place.

In regard to his future involvement with the College beyond that point, he said: “I’ve always said that I will serve at the pleasure of the board. In other words if the College asks me to do something I will generally say ‘yes’.”

Dr Shanahan currently serves as Chairperson of the board of the Malaysia Ireland National Training in Family Medicine Programme, which began in 2018. The Irish College of GPs, RCSI, University College Dublin, and iHeed, are involved in running
this programme.

“It has gone from zero in 2018 to an intake of around 120 this year. Around 400 trainees are in Malaysia now,”
he revealed.

This time last year, he travelled to Kuala Lumpur for the programme’s first graduation.

“It was a fascinating and humbling exercise. It’s one GP per 40,000 people in Malaysia. It’s a huge country. And the Malaysia government recognise they have a huge need for family medical specialists. We are providing them with good quality GP training.”

The four-year programme is similar to the Irish GP training model. However, it has been localised to the particular needs of Malaysia, he explained.

Despite the breadth of professional roles Dr Shanahan has undertaken, when asked about his greatest achievement to date, he said without hesitation:
“My family.”

Dr Shanahan has two children, a daughter Brid, who is a GP in Summerhill Primary Care Centre, Dublin, and a son Niall, who works in IT in Dublin. 

Another achievement worthy of note is the fact that the Shanahan family has practised medicine in Farranfore for more than a century.

His grandfather was appointed in 1920 and took up practice in 1921. He practised until 1956 when Dr Shanahan’s father took over, working until 1996.

From time to time, patients come to the practice seeking family medical records from long ago, Dr Shanahan said. “One of my patients passed away peacefully last year. She was 99 and three-quarters. I checked with the family and it was my grandfather that delivered her…. I was there when she died.”

Personal

General practice has changed significantly over the years, but Dr Shanahan said the strength of the GP-patient relationship has endured.

“Patients do appreciate the fact that Irish general practice is very personal. They see the same GP, sometimes over decades. They develop a personal and professional relationship with their GPs and that’s something that mercifully hasn’t changed over the years.”

So, after such a long career in general practice, does he have any pearls of wisdom to bestow upon young GPs today? 

“I heard this from my grandfather, although I suspect he heard it from someone else: ‘Look after the patients and the money will look after itself’.”