Cross party support for Save Our Surgery rally

Mayor Sandra Duffy, MLAs and Derry City and Strabane District councillors were among the 100-strong 'Save Our Surgery' rally which took place outside Shantallow Health centre today. 

The rally was called in response to last week's announcement the Racecourse Medical practice had decided to hand its contract back to the Department of Health

Addressing the rally, the Ballyarnett SDLP councillor, Brian Tierney said: "When the Department of Health released news on Friday this surgery could possibly close, they put three options on the table. One was a new GP coming in and taking on the contract. The other was that the Western Health and Social Health Care Trust continue to run the services here. The third option was that the almost 5,000 patients would be dispatched to other surgeries across the city.

"For me, for the SDLP and, I hope, for every other political representative, this is not a viable option. GP surgeries across this city are already working to capacity. They don't have the space for an extra 5,000 people. All that will lead to will be greater than already competition for appointments to see GPs. That is not what this area needs.

"This area is one of the largest growing areas across the North. We cannot stand by and allow services to be taken out of this community. It is imperative that we all come together, as Emmet said, a community campaign, to ensure these services are protected and that the 5,000 people that are already using this service are not left without a GP come June.

"I am telling you now, they will not find another GP surgery in this community and I think they would struggle to find one within this city. We all must come together over the next number of months to support the staff and all of the patients here at Racecourse Medical, to ensure there services are continuing to run in the heart of Shantallow," said Cllr Tierney.

Speaking to Derry Now, Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Sandra Duffy said she was at the rally as an elected representative of the area and had been inundated with calls from concerned local residents, patients of Racecourse Medical.

Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Cllr Sandra Duffy at the Save Our Surgery rally.

She added: "They are really concerned about their own care, the care of their children and the care of their elderly relatives, who actually quite vulnerable and depend on this surgery. There are more than 5,000 people who are part of this surgery and I don't know, with GP services across the town and across the North under immense pressure, where they are going to find space. 

"This is going to create a huge deficit here. I have also talked to staff within the health centre, some who work within that surgery, who are really concerned about their jobs and about the future of the health centre as it is because services have been stripped out of it over recent years.

Derry City and Strabane District councillor, Maeve O'Neill (People Before Profit) said it was incredibly important to fight to save the Racecourse Medical practice.

Cllr O'Neill added: "So many people in the local community depend on it but it is also going to have such a knock on effect for other people who access and need GP services, everybody, in effect, across the city and district. 

"This is the third practice that this has happened to in the Western Trust and the Western Trust has a duty to ensure that, if no resolution is found in six months, it continues to take responsibility for GP services in this area.

"It would be a massive loss to the local community and I think we need to do all we can to ensure it is not lost, whether that is signing a petition or joining more protests. So much more needs to be done to actually fund and invest in out health and social care service because we all rely on it and it is the most important thing we have here in our society," said Cllr O'Neill.

"It is the heart of this community in terms of health care and we need it to be here and need to have those services continue for local people who need a GP appointment."

Sinead McLaughlin MLA (SDLP) said she was at the Save Our Surgery rally to support the community.

She added: "This is a vital service in this particular area. We are sitting in a high density populated area and the threat of losing the GP services at the heart of the community is a threat that will affect everybody's health and everybody's wellbeing. 

"The fact is, our GP services are creaking, right throughout the whole of Northern Ireland and we are under serious threat of collapsing the very primary care that supports all aspects of our health care.

"I am here to support the people of Shantallow today because this is vital and it needs to be protected for everyone. Every man, woman and child needs this health service to be maintained," said Ms McLaughlin.