Carrickmore GP surgery ‘bursting at the seams’

Patients at a local GP practice are having to wait outside for appointments and staff are taking tea breaks in their cars – because the building is ‘bursting at the seams’.

The accommodation crisis at Carrickmore surgery has already led to delays in the setting up of a multi-disciplinary team of health professionals, and is also curtailing plans to employ new trainee GPs.

Doctors at the practice have told the UH that a failure to invest in new facilities could have serious repercussions for the long-term sustainability of the surgery, which had to stop registering new patients 18 months ago because of the accommodation problems.

The Department of Health recently stated there is currently no money to address the accommodation needs of the pratice.

However, Dr Cecilia Devlin says that the current building is ‘bursting at the seams’, and described an extension of the premises as ‘essential and long overdue’.

“Inadequate premises have limited the capacity of our rural pracice to deliver the full range of GP services securely and to grow,” she said.

“We have no room to facilitate a multi-disciplinary team (physiotherapist, social worker and mental health worker) which other practices have found to be beneficial in providing a better service for patients.

“There are 23 practice staff and a daily struggle to juggle what rooms are available for medical, mursing and pharmacy staff.”

Dr Michael Heron said the situation is compounded by the fact that the practice is among the most distant in Northern Ireland from accessing acute hospital services.

“This increases the need for effective, high quality local GP services,” he added.

“Our current GP practice has worked with the various NI healthcare commissioners for decades to seek enhanced premises.

“Funding, however, has been prioritsed to large urban centres, which already have better services.

“Inadequate premises have limited the capcity of our practice to deliver the full range of GP services securely and to grow.”

Practice manager, Sinead McGarrity, said the practice has doubled GP numbers in recent years, and has also become a training practice to try and enhance recruitment.

“We would like to be able to offer more GP trainee spaces, but are hampered by our lack of rooms,” she added.

“The work of enhancing and expanding the current premises is now essential to develop practice services in the area.

“But, the failure to invest here will be an assault on the future stability and sustainability of this large practice, and on the healthcare of the almost 10,000 patients who depend on it.”