The loss of a much-respected GP practice in a Co Londonderry town should be a worry for all communities in Northern Ireland. If it’s happened once, it can happen again.
Almost 2,500 people registered with Fairhill Medical Centre are now left unsure of where to turn, where they will go and even if they will have a GP come the end of this month.
Only two weeks’ notice has been given to all those registered with the practice.
And they have said they are now left feeling anxious with the future of their GP care now taken completely out of their hands.
What has emerged is an unseemly stand-off between the Department of Health and the Mid-Ulster GP Federation, which says it cannot take the patients who need to be transferred from Fairhill to a new medical home.
It’s understandable that other GP practices in Magherafelt and the surrounding area would not welcome any more patients — they are already stretched beyond the limit as it is.
But the problem for the department is that a new GP practice for all those affected needs to be found.
It brings home the extent to which GP services are under pressure in Northern Ireland. There have been warnings that the system was at breaking point. Now it has snapped.
There are questions which must be answered by the Department of Health.
Considering the revolt of other GP practices is it likely the department will force GPs in the Magherafelt area to take patients forced out of Fairhill?
Where does that leave patient autonomy in choosing their own doctor as many patients will feel like they are simply being farmed out against their will?
Will this, as the other GPs say, place them in an impossible position given the number of extra patients they will receive?
What steps were taken to try to ensure the practice at Fairhill remained operational for the 2,300 registered patients?
Where are the new GPs coming through to replace those who will inevitably retire in years to come? And if they are continuing to head south of the border, across the water or even further afield to where there is greater respect and reward for the profession, what is being done to arrest the slide?
What message does this send to the patients who are now left wondering what will happen, other than that the GP system is broken beyond repair?
GPs are often our first port of call when illness visits our doorstep. Their doors, too often, are being found locked despite the repeated ringing of alarm bells.