GPs need to get 'back to business' says County Derry candidate

An assembly election candidate for East Derry has called for a full return to face-to-face GP services stating that the current system in place is 'unacceptable'.

Niall Murphy, who has announced he will run as an independent candidate in the upcoming elections, last night said that GPs 'should get back to business'.

Although health centres are open, and have been throughout the pandemic, the way patients are seen has changed due to coronavirus.

Mr Murphy, who previously worked in community development but now works in media, said because GPs aren't seeing as many patients face-to-face it puts 'extra pressure' on local hospitals.

“We have a health service where the front line has essentially given up, packed it in,” said Niall.

East Derry election candidate Niall Murphy.

“They've said we want to do things another way. Obviously with covid we all make allowances for it and the extraordinary circumstances of it, we've all been through it, but the doctors and the nurses up in A&E, they still have to soldier on.

"The workers up in the supermarket still have to go on. What makes the GPs this protected class?”

The Dungiven man continued: “I know GPs have a hard job, I know that they see a lot of people. I know that there is a lot of stress on them but they need to get back to business.

“People need to get in to see doctors because talking to people over phones and sending photographs via email is no good.

"The last thing any person, particularly the older people, deserve is having to run this gauntlet day and daily of phone calls to try to get to speak to someone. It's an outrage.”

“Older people don't want to be a bother to anybody. They don't want to be a nuisance so they let health issues slide and then by the time they get to see a consultant it's gone too far.

“Whereas, if they had been seen at the front line, like they should have been, we wouldn't have a situation where a simple problem has escalated out of control and then becomes a catastrophic thing that can't be fixed.”

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The 46 year-old said he doesn't blame the staff at local health centres but rather the 'system that has been put in place over their heads'.

“The outrageous thing about this at the minute is that they are saying they are reviewing the situation as we go along and things will start to normalise but they will never go fully back to normal.

"That doesn't work for me and that doesn't work for the people. GPs get paid out of the public purse and it needs to go back to the way it was before,” he added.

Dr Laurence Dorman, Northern Ireland Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, last night said: “GPs in Northern Ireland currently manage 200,000 consultations per week – despite an 10% reduction in GP practices in less than 10 years.

“There are huge pressures in our services and simply not enough GPs to manage the level of demand. As well as continuing to care for our patients, GPs played a pivotal role in the vaccination program and continue to care for patients suffering from Covid-19 in the community.

"We want to work in partnership with political representatives, to secure the future of general practice and ensure GPs can be there to care for our patients.”

Dr Alan Stout, Chair of British Medical Association NI’s GP committee said: “It is a myth that GP services closed to patients. Throughout the pandemic we continued to see patients face to face as well as via telephone appointments.

“There has been no reduction in services. Using a telephone triage system, where you speak to a doctor first, ensures that you are seen by the right person and means that doctors can focus on seeing the sickest patients.

“Many patients have told us that they prefer this approach. Most practices will continue to use a mix of telephone appointments and face to face appointments.

“There is a shortage of GPs right across Northern Ireland and it is particularly hard to recruit GPs into rural practices.

“We are working hard with the Department of Health to increase the number of GPs in Northern Ireland, to make sure that those who are currently working continue to do so and do not leave due to workload pressures or because of pension issues.”

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