Family doctors have warned that the crisis in the country's major hospitals will continue, until the Government properly supports the work of doctors in the community.
The Irish College of General Practitioners said that its voice is not being heard in the Government's plan to reform the hospital service.
The Government is expected to unveil a radical plan to reform the structures of the health service next month.
The plan will abolish health boards, introduce more financial accountability and restructure the hospitals around major regional specialist centres.
Family doctors say the Government has ignored their role in the health services in this plan, with too much emphasis on expensive hospitals.
Research shows that investing in more hospital beds and specialists does not lead to a healthier population.
In his keynote address to the ICGP annual congress, chairman Dr Richard Brennan said family practice has no waiting lists, provides value for money and is an effective gatekeeper of the health service.
But he warned that there is a serious manpower and infrastructural crisis in community care, and if this is not addressed, it will exaggerate the hospital crisis.
He said family doctors must have an equal voice with hospitals if the health crisis is to be resolved. He added that they face the system's failures of hospitals all the time.
The doctors are increasingly concerned at the unequal access to health care, with the poor - who are sicker - less likely to receive the treatment they need.
