Mixed reaction to proposed change in GP out-of-hours service provision

The local authority is being consulted on the plans by the Health and Social Care Board and details were brought to the latest monthly meeting in The Braid.

Councillors were told that there are currently five providers of GP Out-of-Hours services across the province - three trusts and two mutuals, one of which is Dalriada Urgent Care.

They heard too, that last year, the GP Out-of-Hours service received over 574,000 calls and that demand looks set to continue to rise. It was also pointed out that Dalriada Urgent Care was the busiest of all the providers during the past 12 months.

Councillors were told that the consultation process proposed moving forward on the three key areas of ‘simplifying access to GP out-of-hours services’ - eg the introduction of one universal telephone number for the whole province, ‘improving operational efficiency’ -eg sharing triage workload across the region at busier times, and, improving alignment with other healthcare professionals - eg aligning call handling and triage processes with the NI Ambulance Service.

They were also presented with a proposed civic response to the consultation by their Chief Executive which stated that Ballymena Borough Council was supportive of the valuable role of the service and of Dalriada Urgent Care, in particular, and that Council would welcome improvements which result in service enhancement.

Cllr Declan O’Loan said : “If the existing service can be improved so much the better but we do have a good service.”

Cllr Monica Digney, however, said she had reservations about the creation of one telephone number for the whole of Northern Ireland, stating: “I see it as a disadvantage - we live in a rural area where a phone call is vital”.

Chief Executive Anne Donaghy suggested that a covering letter could be added to Council’s response to the consultation containing additional comments from councillors, such as had been made by Ms Digney. Councillors agreed and also supported a further suggestion that Council seek involvement by the Patient and Client Council, ie that they carry out a monitoring review to check that the service changes, if and when implemented, are working.