Carnlough GP clinic 'cannot afford' to open five days a week

A County Antrim GP practice in Carnlough has said it is to significantly reduce its opening hours.

The Glens of Antrim Medical Centre says it will only open two separate half days a week because of a funding cut.

The Department of Health (DoH) has said additional payments made to the clinic between 2017 and 2021 were temporary.

The practice, which has a main surgery in Cushendall, said it can no longer cover the costs of a full-time service in Carnlough.

The medical centre opened the branch in Carnlough five years ago when it took on almost 1,400 new patients.

It followed the closure of a practice in Glenarm when its only doctor retired.

The DoH said the Glens of Antrim Medical Centre received an additional support payment when it agreed to accept the new patients.

"This temporary funding was to support the practice for a period of three years to enable them to manage the registration and complete an initial clinical review of these additional patients," it said.

"The funding was not indefinite, it was additional, temporary support offered to any GP practice which take on additional patients following the closure of a nearby GP practice."

Dr John McSparran, who works at the practice, said he "vehemently" disagreed with the response from the department.

"We were never under the impression it was for three years, otherwise we could never have entered the agreement in the first place," he said.

"We've tried to address the problem over the past year… and have continued the service at our own cost.

"But it has now left us in a position financially that the practice is likely to be unviable."

The reduced opening hours are expected to take effect in the coming weeks.

Dr McSparran said one doctor had already been let go.

He said the practice had also not been able to fill receptionist positions because of the budget constraints.

"From a practice perspective it has created an awful difficulty," he said.

"But it is going to create a terrible difficulty for patients, particularly those who have difficulty travelling."

The Cushendall branch is 10 miles (16km) away.

Other GP practices are at least 15 minutes away by car in Larne or Broughshane.

Feargal Lynn manages a care home in Carnlough and is worried about the impact of the reduced GP service in the village.

"If this practice goes to two half-days, that leaves no practice, apart from Cushendall, on this coast between Ballycastle and Larne."

Mr Lynn said it was "totally unacceptable to ask this community to live with that".

"The proposal for people of all ages in a rural setting to go to Cushendall surgery on the other days shows a tremendous lack of insight into the challenges the rural community face," he said.

"Not everybody can drive. Certainly, they can't if they are ill.

"We are at least a 20 to 25-minute drive for a GP that needs to travel this direction"

The DoH added that it continued to fund the rent and rates for the branch surgery premises in Carnlough.

It said that despite the additional payment agreement ending in March 2021, the funding for the additional Carnlough patients "forms part of the increased standard remuneration this practice now receives".