A woman in need of medical attention in Northern Ireland called a General Practitioner surgery over 100 times without getting through to a reception desk, it has emerged.
It comes as health services across the country continue to come under extreme pressure, with a number of medical practices announcing they would close in the coming months.
Sinn Fein MLA Padraig Delargy said that he sat with a patient this week trying to book a doctor's appointment, ringing exactly 154 times between them and unable to get through.
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He said: "This morning I sat with a woman trying to book a doctors appointment. Between us, we rang the practice 154 times. No answer. People need to be able to see a GP when they need one.
"We need an Executive formed now to invest an extra £1 billion in the health service to hire more doctors and nurses and start fixing health. We’re ready to start that work today."
However, Chair of BMA’s Northern Ireland general practitioners committee, Alan Stout said that GPs in Northern Ireland were currently trying to deliver services "under unprecedented pressure".
As it has been widely reported in the media, in the past year alone partners at three GP surgeries handed back their contracts due to the workforce and workload pressures with a further 22 practices currently at similar risk," he said.
"This is a problem that pre-dates the pandemic and one BMA has warned about for many years. There are now fewer practices across Northern Ireland, yet they are having to deal with more patients with more complex needs.
"A lot of these patients are waiting years on waiting lists for treatment in secondary care and the knock-on effect of this is needing their GP more than usual.
"Add in the effects of the pandemic, large numbers of GPs approaching retirement age or choosing to leave the profession due to the workload and workforce pressures, and you have the situation whereby surgeries start to fall."
Meanwhile, Dr Laurence Dorman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: “General practice across Northern Ireland is under enormous pressure and despite the very best efforts of hardworking GPs and practice staff, they frequently cannot manage the unprecedented current demand for services.
"All practices will aim to prioritise the patients most in need but unfortunately the resources they have available often does not let them provide the care they would like.
"This is regrettable. It is vital that the Department of Health responds to this crisis and acts urgently to provide support to GP surgeries, to allow them to care for patients in a timely fashion.”
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