Report reveals sharp fall in GP numbers in Omagh area

THE number of GPs in the Omagh area has shrunk by 30 per-cent over the past eight years, while local patients have to travel significantly further for GP treatment people living anywhere else in the North.

That’s according to the General Medical Services for Northern Ireland’s annual statistical report, which was published last week.

However, while the above statistics will shock few locally, somewhat more surprisingly the same figures have also revealed the area apparently still has more general practitioners per person than several other areas of the North.

According to the report, only two local government districts (LGDs) managed to maintain the same number of GPs in their area since 2014, while the biggest proportionate decrease in GPs was in the Fermanagh and Omagh area, which saw a drop of 30 percent.

In 2014, there were 27 GP practices in the Fermanagh and Omagh area, and the average size of the patient lists at these practices was 4,497, the lowest of any area in the North.

As of this year, there are now 19 practices in the area, which have an average patient list of 6,501, the fifth highest average in the North.

“Clearly the size of the registered population in any given LGD will have an influence on the service required,” the report stated, when outlining the number of GPs registered per 100,000 population.

“Note, however, this does not take account of the different age profiles or levels of mobidity across areas which will also impact on service requirements.

“It should also be noted that GP practices vary in size and number of live GP contracts associated with them.”

With that caveat, the report revealed there were 15.4 GPs in the Fermanagh and Omagh area per 100,000 people. That was around mid table, with the highest number of GPs per person in Newry, Mourne and Down, where there are 18.8 GPs per 100,000, while the lowest was in Antrim and Newtownabbey, where there are 12.1 GPs per 100,000.

There are currently 82 GPs in the Fermanagh and Omagh area. Of these, seven are over 60-years-old while 13 are aged over 55. Most of the young local GPs are female, accounting for 13 of 16 local GPs aged under 39-years-old.

The one area Fermanagh and Omagh did top the list, in a negative way, as regarding distance. Local patients here have to travel an average of 3.1 miles to their nearest GP. That is significantly higher than the northern average of 1.3 miles.

While in several areas across the North a total of 100 per-cent of the local population live within a five-mile radius of their nearest GP, in Fermanagh and Omagh only 81.9 percent of the population lives within five miles of a GP.