Out-of-hours GP services cut back in the Southern Trust area

Urgent out-of-hours GP services in the Southern Health Trust are to operate from only two bases from Friday 30 July because of staffing pressures.

It means its Armagh, South Tyrone and Kilkeel centres will temporarily close until at least the end of August.

There will then be a review.

First reported in the Ulster Gazette, the change will see the service at two locations only - Daisy Hill Hospital in County Down and Craigavon Area Hospital in County Armagh.

The trust's interim director of older people and primary care, Brian Beattie, said it was a temporary change and would "only affect those who have to travel for an appointment".

The urgent care out-of-hours service is a telephone service, offering advice and treatment to those patients with urgent medical symptoms that cannot wait until their own GP reopens.

It operates on weekdays from 18:00 BST until 08:00.

Mr Beattie said there was "increasing demand right across health and social care and particularly unscheduled care services" and as a result the service has been experiencing "significant pressures" over the past number of weeks.

"Due to difficulties staffing rotas for the rest of the summer, we are centralising staff to our Daisy Hill and Craigavon Area hospital sites until the end of August when we will review again," he said.

Mr Beattie said that he understood some inconvenience might be caused for patients who had to travel further to a base but the changes were necessary to "maintain the service as safely as we can for the whole area with our limited resources".

"We thank everyone for your understanding and co-operation as we work through these challenges," he added.

Sinn Féin MLA Colm Gildernew expressed concern at the closures, describing them as "deeply alarming".

The party's health spokesman said GPs were under pressure.

He called for Health Minister Robin Swann to roll out multidisciplinary teams to all trust areas.

"If the public are unable to access GP services, then the only option left is to seek help at already crowded emergency departments," he said.

"The past number of months my office has been inundated with hundreds of frustrated constituents seeking help in getting through or seen by their GP," he added.

The Belfast Trust has also had to make some changes due to staffing.

A spokesman said that while there would be no changes made to emergency departments or Urgent Care Centre there were temporary changes to GP out-of-hours arrangements.

He said that the out-of-hours service "continues to experience significant pressure and in recent weeks has experienced gaps in the GP rota which we have been unable to fill".

"It remains our first priority to provide a safe, seamless and accessible service for every member of the public who requires it," he added.

The trust has decided that the Crumlin Road and Knockbreda services will be merged during times of limited cover to ensure continuity of service for patients.

Other health trusts in Northern Ireland have been contacted by the BBC and asked about their out-of-hours services.

Three trusts have confirmed they will continue their services as normal.

The South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust said it had "no current plans" to change or cut back its services or locations.

It operates urgent care GP out-of-hours services from three bases within the Ards Community Hospital, Downe Hospital and Lagan Valley Hospital sites.

However, the trust said it was "an ongoing challenge to staff all bases particularly over holiday periods and in the midst of a pandemic".

It added that if these rotas cannot be filled, it had contingency plans in place "to deliver the service from two rather than three bases for short periods".

The trust also pointed out that the vast majority of calls to out-of-hours are now "dealt with via a telephone consultation and only a small percentage result in face to face, home or base consultations".

The Northern Trust said it will continue to provide out-of-hour-services, through Dalriada Urgent Care.

The trust added: "We are also experiencing difficulties and facing challenges at present, however we are continuing to run a normal service.

"Where there are staff shortages at particular times, we have protocols in place for staff. All incoming calls from patients are answered as normal in our call centre and a nurse screens and grades the calls ensuring that urgent and emergency calls are dealt with promptly."

The Western Trust, which operates urgent out-of-hours care from Londonderry, Limavady, Strabane, Omagh and Enniskillen said there were no plans for temporary closures, despite ongoing "difficulties in arranging full cover for all shifts available in every base".

The health service across Northern Ireland is under pressure and some surgeries have had to be cancelled.

During Thursday's Stormont health committee meeting, the Health and Social Care Board's (HSCB) Paul Cavanagh told members the current Covid-19 wave has heavily affected hospital staffing levels.

He said it was down to a combination of Covid-19 infections, self-isolation periods and annual leave.

"Staff availability is a particular problem for us now," he said.