FERMANAGH’S growing GP crisis has been dealt a further blow with the news that another rural practice will close before Christmas.
Maguiresbridge Surgery will shut its doors on December 15th due to the retirement of Dr Michael Smyth after 31 years. Patients are being transferred to either Brookeborough and Lisnaskea, which are both already very busy surgeries.
The closure in Maguiresbridge is the latest crisis in general practice in Fermanagh, which doctors have already warned is on the verge of collapse. In June Roslea Medical Practice was at risk of becoming vacant after the departure of the GP there. Once again it was left to a group of local GPs, working on behalf of Western Rural Healthcare, to step in and fill the breach as they had done earlier this year in Ederney. However the Fermanagh Herald has learned that there are renewed concerns about the future of services in Ederney and Roslea along with Belleek. Other GPs in South Fermanagh will also be retiring in the first quarter of 2017.
A protest against cuts to local GP services was held in Maguiresbridge on Saturday, attended by Donal O’Cofaigh of Unite NI who says surgeries are a vital part of rural communities and must be protected.
“This is another blow for patients who are again being shipped out of their surgery with the loss of another rural practice.
“We have already seen this happening in many areas of England where it is almost impossible to see a doctor. It’s death by a thousand cuts and we need to take action now.
“It’s all down to inadequate numbers of doctors coming out of universities due to a lack of training places. There is also insufficient support for doctors who are facing increased pressure. Furthermore the pay rate being offered to doctors is quite low relative to the amount of work they’re doing.”
Mr O’Cofaigh, pictured left, says a public meeting is being considered in a bid to hammer home the message that these cuts must be reversed.
“We need action from the Health Minister Michelle O’Neill and for her to take this seriously. Rural communities have a right to local GP services,” he added.