SDLP Question to Minister regarding out-of-hours GP Services in Strabane

To ask the Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety for an overview of the current provision of out-of-hours GP services in Strabane.

The Health & Social Care Board (HSCB) commissions GP Out of Hours (OOHs) services in the Western Trust area from Western Urgent Care (WUC) which operates5 GP OOHs bases including Strabane.

When a patient in the Strabane area contacts GP OOHs services, the service is structured so that they will be seen in the local centre. However, should the situation arise that when a patient contacts the OOHs service and there is no GP available in that centre at that time, then the patient will be provided with an appointment, at a later time, to see a GP at the Strabane centre. WUC make the necessary arrangements to have a GP travel from either the Altnagelvin or Omagh base to see those patients. Should patients wish to be seen sooner they are offered an appointment at the GP OOHs centre in Altnagelvin.

An analysis of activity in the Strabane area shows that from March 2014 until September 2104 there have been 79 occasions where a GP was not in place for the whole of the evening in Strabane. As previously indicated on each of these evenings all patients were offered an appointment in the Strabane centre.

Patients who need to see a doctor or nurse continue to do so within the Northern Ireland Quality Standards depending on the urgency of the case. Furthermore, any patient in the area who requires a home visit will be offered one. It should be noted that access to the Strabane centre is by appointment only, and patients should always ring for advice before attending the centre.

Given the demand being placed on GP OOHs it is essential that patients understand that the OOHs service is designed to deal with urgent calls only and that patients with non-urgent needs are best dealt with during the day at their local GP surgery, via self-care or accessing their local community pharmacy.