Out-of-hours GPs struggle with hundreds of calls

Two GPs on out-of-hours cover faced a backlog of nearly 400 calls in Belfast by the early hours of Monday – a spike on the normal 10 calls, a senior doctor has said.

Dr Alan Stout, co-chair of the British Medical Association’s GP committee, said there would have been “some very unwell patients among them”.

Sunday night meant “huge and unsafe pressure” for those involved, he said.

He also warned of significant knock-on effects in GP practices on Monday.

The Department of Health has been contacted for a response.

In a tweet on Monday morning, Dr Stout appealed for people to be patient.

“We will try hard but it’s not our fault,” he said.

“We expect complaints and criticism.”

Dr Stout told BBC NI’s Good Morning Ulster that he had heard “harrowing stories” over the weekend.

“Anyone who is contacting a GP late on Sunday night is going to have a significant level of concern. We have huge sympathy,” he said.

“There will be unwell people there and a complete and utter inability to deal with them.”

In answer to his tweet on Monday, one woman said her daughter called Belfast out-of-hours at 22:50 GMT on Saturday.

Her call back came more than 14 hours later at 13:17 GMT on Sunday.

Earlier this year, the British Medical Association warned almost 100 GP practices in Northern Ireland had sought emergency support or were in crisis.

Department of Health figures show that the number of GPs in Northern Ireland has risen by almost 20% since 2014.

In that same time period, the number of practices fell from 350 to 319.