The Department of Health has confirmed that Dalriada Urgent Care is to 'temporarily consolidate' to centres at Antrim and Coleraine Hospitals for consultations where patients need to be seen face to face.
In a statement, a Department of Health spokesperson said: "Dalriada Urgent Care, like all GP Out of Hours Providers and so many parts of the health service, is under pressure.
"After reviewing operational, staffing and patient safety factors, the management of DUC has taken the decision to temporarily consolidate to centres at Antrim and Coleraine Hospital, for consultations where patients need to be seen face to face.
"Home Visiting is still available when required all over the Northern Trust area and is unaffected by this. We acknowledge that this temporary change may cause some inconvenience to some service users.
Concluding the spokesperson said "In the past few years, and particularly since the pandemic, it is noted that larger proportion of patients who contact GP OOH are dealt with remotely through telephone or video consultation, and there are significantly fewer patients who need to travel to a GP OOH centre . ”
