Omagh GP ‘concerned’ at staff shortages in Palliative Care

As the Western Trust struggles to find a fix for its longstanding recruitment crisis, a local GP has expressed deep concerns over the impact staff shortages are having on local palliative care services.

Following the retirement of an experienced consultant last year, there is currently only one part-time specialist working with Omagh’s palliative care team.

Shedding light on the severity of the situation, Omagh town councillor and prominent local doctor, Jo Deehan told the UlsterHerald, “Terminally ill patients will suffer until a full compliment of staff is restored.”

“We have known about widespread recruitment difficulties for a long time, and we have been aware of the critical nature of staffing shortages in local palliative care services for around six months.

“A key consultant retired last year and there has been great difficulty replacing her.”

Dr Deehan said that Fermanagh and Omagh District Council (FODC) brought concerns around the welfare of local end of life services to the attention of the Western Trust in autumn. However, despite the local health authority assuring the council that they were engaged in ongoing efforts to fill essential vacancies, a much-needed consultant post remains empty.

“Local palliative care services are absolutely vital for people in this area; without a complete team of staff, there is no doubt that patients will suffer.”

To compensate for the loss of consultants, the trust has brought in middle grade doctors, also known as ‘fellows’, who are being trained up on site to become consultants.

Reacting to this, the Strule Medical Practice GP said, “Anything that gets more doctors into palliative care is to be welcomed, but there is no substitute for the experience and expertise of fully-qualified consultants. As part of the local palliative team we do also have specialist nurses who are excellent at what they do, but they still need the support of consultants, especially when treating patients who have a complex range of medical needs and requirements.”

With junior doctors in England and Wales having recently participated in the longest stint of industrial action in NHS history, their counterparts in the North are in the middle of voting on whether or not to hold a 24 hour walkout on March 6.

However, the trust has said that even if strike action is sanctioned by the ballot, this will not impact the doctors working with Omagh’s palliative care team.

Turning to the possibility of junior doctors in the North going on strike, Dr Deehan said, “Yes, the junior doctors belonging to British Medical Association (BMA) in Northern Ireland have decided to vote on industrial action for the first time ever, which is their right.

“No doctor wants to risk patient care, however, what we are witnessing is the outworking of the pay differential between medical professionals in Northern Ireland and their equivalents in both the rest of the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

Concluding, the FODC councillor said, “If we are to retain and recruit medical professionals, and this applies across all the different bands and disciplines, there needs to be pay parity between Northern Ireland, the rest of the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Without it, we cannot solve these recruitment problems.

There are plenty of newly qualified doctors and nurses who want to work in Northern Ireland, but many of them are not willing to accept the pay deficit that they are being asked to take in order to practice in our hospitals and health centres.”