A service set up to reduce pressure on hospital emergency departments is supporting a GP surgery with no staff doctors, it can be revealed.
Phone First, a triage service to help cut the number of patients spending hours in A&E units, is providing support to locum GPs working at Bannview Medical Practice in Portadown.
It is the latest disruption for patients of the beleaguered GP surgery, which has struggled to attract and retain family doctors willing to work there on a permanent basis, resulting in the Southern Health Trust stepping in to take over the contract for the service.