Belfast Trust seeks views on moving GP out of hours services to one site

BELFAST Health Trust has said maintaining two GP out of hours (GP OOH) services in the city is no longer viable, with the public now being asked about switching to a single site.

The services are currently provided at Knockbreda Health and Wellbeing site and opposite the Mater Hospital on the Crumlin Road.

Originally located in two different trust areas, both services were kept on after the Belfast Trust was formed in 2007.

♦Subscriber Exclusive: Ask our tax expert an Autumn Budget question

When do the clocks go back in October and do I need to change the time on my phone?

Family announce death of Belfast republican Martin Óg Meehan

They provide out of hours primary care to the Belfast population for illnesses and injuries that requires urgent attention but are not life-threatening.

In the consultation document, the Belfast Trust said it was not always possible to find enough staff for both sites or stay within budget.

Moving to a multi-disciplinary service with nurses, paramedics and pharmacists was also suggested “so that the service is no longer reliant on one single profession and to free up GPs to attend to those who are more acutely unwell.”

They added that it would be more cost-effective and efficient to provide the service from one base alongside the relatively new Phone First service.

“Moving to one site with the newly introduced skill mix would make considerable economies of scale by consolidating resources and would address the significant, increasing overspend that the service is facing year on year,” the document read.

“Evidence has shown that the current model is no longer sustainable and frequently, the Trust has had to close one site due to workforce issues.”

A total of five options were considered:

- Keeping both sites, which was not shortlisted due to staffing pressures and projections of a £1m overspend.

- Consolidating both services into the Knockbreda site (a shortlisted idea) or the Crumlin Road site.

- Moving both services on to the Royal Victoria Hospital Site alongside the Urgent Care Centre and Emergency Department. This was not shortlisted due to an “overwhelming consensus” the Royal site was already extremely busy and is often congested with long queues for car parking.

- Option 5 was developing an “integrated urgent primary care service in a community setting.”

This was shortlisted as the “ultimate preferred option” in the long term, but is not considered feasible with available funding.

The Trust went on to say there was “broad consensus” for the one site model, as it would “deliver equity” to all Belfast patients with “the richness of a multi-disciplinary skill mix on one site.”

The 13-week consultation is now open to the public until January 2, 2025, with patients, carers and staff all urged to make their views heard.