GP leaders have spoken out against ‘totally unacceptable’ abuse faced by a practice in Northern Ireland, after posters criticising GP access appeared outside the surgery overnight.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland told Pulse it was called to reports of posters being stuck on the Lisnaskea Health Centre building earlier this week, and that police officers attended the scene.
The posters, fixed to windows, doors and fences around the building, accused the surgery of being ‘not fit for purpose’ and of ‘not answering phones’, according to pictures posted on Facebook on a page called ‘Eamon Keenan Independent 4 Real Change’.
The RCGP and the BMA both condemned the erection of posters and the abuse of staff at the practice, and said that the incident has created ‘a hostile atmosphere for staff and patients alike’, as Lisnaskea Health Centre staff continue to work ‘tirelessly to meet increasing demand’.
Mr Keenan, who posted the pictures online and is a former councillor on Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, said the posters were put up to ‘highlight the complete lack of even basic healthcare in Lisnaskea’.
‘You cannot simply phone up and the phone is actually answered,’ he said in a statement online. ‘The people of Erne East are being forced to go and pay to see private GPs.’
RCGP Northern Ireland chair Dr Ursula Mason said she wanted to send her support to all the staff at the health centre.
She said: ‘Harassment of this nature cannot be tolerated. Across Northern Ireland, practices are working against a backdrop of contract hand backs and instability.
‘The vast majority of GPs want to be in a position to deliver good quality NHS care for their patients and pay the bills.
‘As long as general practice in Northern Ireland remains underfunded, more practices will struggle to provide sustainable services for their patients. There can be no excuse to target hard-working staff, and the abuse aimed at staff at Lisnaskea Health Centre is unacceptable.’
BMA council chair Dr Alan Stout, a GP in Belfast, said that the incident was a ‘very strong signifier of a failing system’ as patients ‘literally turn on those that are trying to help them the most’.
In a post on X, he added: ‘Adequate staff and resource solves this, not endless meetings.’
BMA Northern Ireland’s GP committee chair Dr Frances O’Hagan said no one should be faced with abuse like this when they are ‘just trying to do their job’.
She added: ‘This action against the staff of Lisnaskea Health Centre is totally unacceptable. GPs are working harder than ever, doing the absolute best they can for patients, despite huge shortages of staff and increased practice sizes.
‘Action like this will do nothing to encourage GPs to come and work in the area, risking the situation becoming even worse.’
A Department of Health spokesperson told Pulse: ‘Harassment or abuse of staff working in any healthcare setting is totally unacceptable.
‘Staff delivering health and care services, often in challenging circumstances, deserve to be treated respectfully, including at Lisnaskea Health Centre, where we understand extra clinical staff have been introduced to help provide additional patient appointments.
‘General practice plays a crucial role in our health and social care system and stabilisation of GP practices remains a key priority.’
Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA Deborah Erskine said she was ‘disappointed’ that the posters appeared at the practice.
She said: ‘Those who put these posters up are actually causing more harm to the health service – demoralising and upsetting staff at a time when we need them to stay working in our healthcare settings.
‘General practice is underfunded. We in the West are operating with less GPs, with bigger practices.
‘The situation is not as black and white as people want to make it. The situation is dire. I recognise the frustration but it is the job of politicians to make it better and to work to ensure practices have fit for purpose facilities, systems able to cope with demand and a fully sustainable workforce.’
A police spokesperson said: ‘Police received a report that posters had been stuck on a building in Drumhaw Park, Lisnaskea, at some point overnight between 27 August and 28 August.
‘Officers attended and noted that no criminal damage had occurred. Advice and guidance was given to the reporting party.’
Mr Keenan told Pulse that the messages on the posters ‘speak for themselves’ and that ‘they are not abusive’.
He said: ‘We would not be party to any abuse. The fact of the matter is that the People of Lisnaskea and the surrounding areas, have been unable to avail of normal GP appointments when needed, for many years now.
‘Phones are constantly engaged or ring out. Phoning twenty or thirty times is not uncommon. There have been repeated complaints raised about this, with many meetings on this issue, sadly nothing has been resolved.
‘The people of Erne East are not happy with the GP service that has been forced upon them and are well aware of the creeping privatisation of the health service as a whole. That is the real cause. The protests and people’s frustrations, are the consequences.
‘We clearly understand that the staff at the health centre in Lisnaskea do their very best and are working under difficult conditions.’
GP practices in the devolved nations including Northern Ireland are still in the dark about how the 6% pay uplift will be allocated by their governments.
GPC NI said they expect the health minister to bid for additional funding as part of the next ‘monitoring round’, which provides an opportunity to review spending plans in the devolved nations.
This is expected to take place in October, but the BMA does not know when any additional funding would eventually be paid to GP practices.
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It would seem that certain politicians are ‘not fit for purpose’ and should be removed from the system so that they cannot make things worse by misinforming people, harrrassing and abusing staff, and breaching the Code of Conduct for MPs or whatever they are.