Posters at surgery 'abusive and hostile,' says GP

Posters were placed outside Lisnaskea Health Centre in County Fermanagh

The Royal College of GPs and the British Medical Association (BMA) have condemned the erection of posters at Lisnaskea Health Centre.

Posters were placed on the outside of the health centre in County Fermanagh and comments have been posted on social media.

They refer to difficulties in getting an appointment and concerns over people being pushed into paying for private healthcare.

In a joint statement, the Royal College of GPs and the BMA said it created a “hostile atmosphere” for staff and patients.

They added that Lisnaskea Health Centre’s staff "work tirelessly to meet increasing demand".

Dr Frances O’Hagan says staff are "doing their best"

Dr Frances O’Hagan, the Chair of BMA Northern Ireland’s GP committee said that there was a "chronic shortage" of GPs across Northern Ireland, but warned protesters not to "blame the hand that feeds you" but said staff at the centre were "being blamed as the problem" when they were not.

Speaking on BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme Dr O'Hagan called for the Health Minister to "intervene across Northern Ireland so that more GPs are trained, so that more resources are put into general practice".

Responding to the posters and online comments she said: "If you’re going to harass the staff and make the staff feel really intimidated, how are you going to encourage more staff to come and work in this area?"

She added that staff were "doing their best to work as hard as they can", against a backdrop of increased patient numbers.

In a statement, the Department of Health (DoH) said 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."

The department added that it is committed to building the GP workforce amid budgetary pressures.

The protest was organised by a campaign group called the Erne East Community Health Committee.

Eamon Keenan, a member of the group, said they were "aware that certain elements are trying to allege that there was abusive comments or intimidation".

"The messages on the posters speak for themselves, that they are not abusive; and we would not be party to any abuse," he added.

"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," Mr Keenan claimed.

He said that the group was aware that "staff at the health centre in Lisnaskea do their very best and are working under difficult conditions".