A Belfast out of hours GP service has been saved following a health care U-turn in the wake of a public outcry.
The city's Health Trust had proposed (Nov 2024) to make cost effective changes by centralising its out of hours GP service to the Crumlin Road and closing the second service at the Knockbreda Health and Wellbeing site.
However, a public consultation, which was met with a motion of support at Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council (LCCC) has caused the Trust to rethink its health strategy.
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Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Castlereagh South DUP rep, Brian Higginson, who brought the motion forward, said: "The Belfast Trust has listened to the community and decided to keep Knockbreda out of hours GP service open after public consultation.
"A huge thank you to everyone who made their voices heard. Your support made all the difference. While some parties, who claim to stand up for the community, were nowhere to be seen, the DUP fought hard to ensure local voices were heard.
"We’re delighted that the Trust has responded to the concerns we reflected on behalf of residents. A real victory for people power.
"I'm delighted to have worked on this important issue with Democratic Unionist Party colleagues from across south and east Belfast. Well done to everyone who took the time to feed into the consultation."
The LDRS contacted the Belfast Trust, with a spokesperson directing the media to its public announcement on its website.
It states: "Belfast Health and Social Care Trust undertook a consultation on the future provision of General Practice out of hours.
"On the basis of the feedback received during this process, while there are clear benefits to centralising this service on one single site, the Trust will not proceed with the proposal at this time. The Trust may wish to revisit this decision at a later stage, but this would be subject to further consultation."
It added: "The GP out of hours service will proceed with a Multi Disciplinary Team approach, supporting GPs and creating Primary Care out of hours.
"This will help to ensure our patients can access the right care from the most appropriate clinician. The Trust also plans to work with the Department of Health and pharmacy to explore options for the development of electronic prescribing. This would remove the need for patients to collect paper copies in person.
"The Trust wishes to thank everyone who took part in the consultation and provided invaluable feedback."
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