Magherafelt GP closure ‘the worst outcome for patients’

AFTER a lifetime of care at a GP surgery in Magherafelt, patients said their goodbyes on Thursday to Fairhill Medical Practice.

Over 2,300 patients are being relocated to surrounding surgeries after the Department of Health was unable to find a replacement contract for the facility.

Letters had been issued during the week to tell patients where they had been assigned, prompting concerns over patient safety from other doctors.

Dr Alan Stout, chair of the British Medical Association in Northern Ireland, commented: “This is the worst outcome for patients, for local practices and for the department.

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“A forced allocation only happens when there is absolutely no other solution, a practice says they can’t safely take any more patients, but are forced to anyway. We have been warning for years.”

Joanne Wright (51) said been a patient at Fairhill for 32 years.

“I’m heartbroken, it’s sad for it to come to this. I don’t think it was handled very well, it was all of a sudden,” she told The Irish News.

Kenny McMullan (68) said his wife Yvonne (63) had attended Fairhill since she was a child.

“All she has known is this surgery her whole life and she’s very sad she has to move from Fairhill to another surgery,” he said.

“There’s nothing we can really do about it but she has been transferred to another local GP.

“I suppose there’s too much work in this surgery for a single doctor.

“Dr Hunter (at Fairhill) looked after everybody, even during Covid he was available come what may.”

Joyce Doris (69) lives nearby in Coagh and said she was worried about the pressure it would place on other surgeries.

“I don’t know what they expect people from Magherfelt to do to be quite honest, I think it’s outrageous,” she said.

“It is a big town, I don’t know how other surgeries are going to accommodate them.

“I’m really shocked, it’s just awful the way the health service is going. I didn’t even know they had only given people only a few days notice.”

Another patient, Catherine (31), has been at the surgery for 25 years.

“I’m very disappointed to hear the service is shutting down. We weren’t really informed of it, I only found out from social media.

“Then we received our letters shortly after, so it’s going to be a big loss within the community.”

She has been reassigned to a surgery eight miles away in Draperstown.

“It’s an inconvenience as I’m from the town here, so it is quite a distance to travel,” she said.

“For a lot of those people that are vulnerable or have complex needs, it is a lot of travel if they haven’t been assigned to another surgery within Magherafelt.

“Unfortunately, we can’t apply to change our surgery until after January 31, so we just have to make do.”

Earlier another GP at the Garden Street Surgery in Magherafelt, Dr John Diamond, told the BBC that none of the other practices involved had received any information about the patient transfers.

“None of the practices have received any notes, we just have a list of names,” he said.

“So as of Friday we have no idea if any of these patients are palliative care, if they are housebound, if they have complex needs - we don’t know their medications.

“It’s so unsafe and we really are frustrated with the board because they did not meet local practices to try to do this in a safe and manageable way.”

A Department of Health spokesperson said the practices were informed a week ago “at the earliest opportunity” and patients lists had been shared.

They added that officials had been in contact this week with practices to ensure “as smooth a transition as possible for both patients and practices”.

While understanding the disappointment of patients, they said “all options were explored and exhausted” to keep Fairhill open, and the practices taking on extra patients would receive increased funding.