During one of the last in a series of Pathfinder meetings, held by the Trust across the district to get public views on how to improve the local health service, there were heated exchanges at the packed-out Roslea Community Centre as emotions boiled over. 

The area has been without a local doctor service for the past two years, and on Monday evening the true extent to how this has been impacting the community was laid bare. 

Among stories of older people having to ask neighbours for lifts to Lisnaskea, mothers waiting hours with young children, people having difficulty getting their medication, and severe difficulties arranging appointments, a worrying emerging trend was revealed. 

 “People are neglecting their health care because they couldn’t be bothered ringing and ringing to get an appointment, they couldn’t be bothered with a 30 mile round trip, they couldn’t be bothered going for an appointment at 10 o’clock and not getting seen until half 11,” said former independent councillor Tony McPhillips. 

Bosses from the Trust, including chief executive Anne Kilgallen and deputy chief executive Kieran Downey, were present for the meeting. While they reiterated GPs were independently run, and not in the remit of the Trust, they did commit to working to do what they could to help restore the local service, such as setting up health hubs complete with GPs, physios, mental health practitioners and social workers. 

However, while the Trust senior officials each said they understood the anger of the people they also stressed the extensive problems recruiting medical staff and attracting more trainee doctors, issues currently plaguing both hospital services and general practice. 

However, this was not acceptable to the capacity crowd at the centre: “We’ve had all the explanations, and I respect you putting it in context for us, but we know all that at this stage,” said one local woman. “We know the problems in Queen’s, we know how long it’s going to take even if they do have a medical school in Derry, that’s going to take a very long time to filter through.”

Referring to well-received comments from the crowd on “useless politicians” and anger directed at the Trust bosses over claims of mismanagement, the woman continued:  “There’s no point in attacking politicians, or being rude, or going back over what has happened in the past. We need a doctor now. We have been two years without one. We have a right to a doctor, I see it as a human right.”