Belfast Council calls on Trust to scrap plan to remove out of hours GP service

Belfast Council is calling on Belfast Trust to scrap plans to remove the Knockbreda out of hours Doctors service.

Last week at a Belfast City Council committee meeting, a DUP motion to lobby the Belfast Trust passed, despite opposition from Alliance.

The motion, proposed by DUP Councillor Sarah Bunting, states: “This council opposes the Belfast Trust’s plan to remove the Knockbreda out of hours Doctors service, which provides urgent medical care for South and East Belfast residents when GP practices are closed.

READ MORE: Belfast student accommodation blocks get green-light at City Hall

READ MORE: Belfast city centre hotel planned for old RUC barracks gets council green light for second time

“(The council) recognises the disproportionate impact on residents in these areas, particularly those without access to transport, who may struggle to reach alternative services.

“(It) believes this removal of service is likely to increase pressure on already overburdened A and E departments at the Ulster Hospital and Royal Victoria Hospital, further compromising timely access to care.”

Councillors agreed to write to the Belfast Trust to oppose this proposal, participate in the public consultation, and advocate for retaining the service.

However support was not unanimous for the motion at the council’s Standards and Business Committee November meeting, held last week. On a vote, 12 elected members were in favour from the DUP, Sinn Féin, the UUP and the Green Party, two were against from the Alliance Party, and one SDLP councillor gave a “no vote” due to a “lack of information” from the motion proposers.

Belfast Trust has launched a consultation on the proposed changes. The consultation will run for a period of 13 weeks, closing on Thursday January 2 2025. The public can find full details, including the consultation paper, on the Citizen Space website.

Lisburn and Castlereagh Council will see a similar motion to that of Belfast tabled by the DUP on November 26th.

DUP Councillor for Castlereagh South Brian Higginson spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service last week, saying: “This is a vital service in the local community and must be retained. This proposal, and the 13 week associated consultation, has raised apprehensions for many elderly people, families and vulnerable service users who currently use the the Knockbreda Health and Wellbeing site - from across South and East Belfast.

“South Belfast DUP are opposed to the proposal of moving the out of hours GP service from the Knockbreda Health and Wellbeing site to the Crumlin road.
“South Belfast MLA Edwin Poots MLA has written a letter to the chief executive of Belfast Health and Social Care Trust outlining our opposition to this proposal of moving the service, and he is currently waiting on a response.”

The Belfast Trust says on its website: “Belfast Trust is responsible for the provision of GP out of hours services for the population of Belfast. Over recent years, there have been challenges in maintaining out of hours service provision at the two bases on the Crumlin Road and the Knockbreda Health and Wellbeing site.

“In order to make the best use of public monies, we consider it would be more cost-effective and more efficient to provide the service from one base, alongside the relatively newly established 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.

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

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.