Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has paid tribute to staff at Mullaghbawn GP Practice during a visit to see how a new neighbourhood model of care is helping sustain frontline services in rural south Armagh.
The Southern Health and Social Care Trust currently has temporary responsibility for three previously at-risk surgeries — Mullaghbawn, Kilkeel and Rathkeeland in Crossmaglen — covering around 18,000 patients across south Armagh and south Down.
All three practices continue to provide GP, nursing and pharmacy services and are linked into multi-disciplinary teams offering social work, physiotherapy and mental health support. They are also working with community and voluntary groups to increase appointments and roll out new initiatives.
Mullaghbawn, which has a list of about 5,400 patients, was highlighted as an example of the “neighbourhood” approach in action.
Brian Beattie, Director of Adult Community Services for the Southern Trust, said the practice understood its central role as “the first, often only point of contact for many local people”, particularly in tackling preventable illness, health inequalities, addiction and loneliness in older and farming communities.
He said colleagues were focusing on early intervention and “linking patients to prevention and social prescribing programmes for support, encouraging health literacy, long-term condition management and providing care as close to home as possible”.
“The aim is to provide a joined up, person-centred approach to reduce the risk of problems escalating, which could impact on a patient’s independence and require wider involvement of support services,” he added.
Recent developments at Mullaghbawn include: A project to improve health and wellbeing among older patients; A pharmacist-led programme to tighten up medicines management; A new heart failure service; Proactive phone calls to patients aged over 75 to spot and prevent emerging issues; and Work to cut Emergency Department attendances among patients with higher needs.
Speaking after touring the surgery and meeting staff, Minister Nesbitt said: “I was delighted to visit Mullaghbawn and to meet the staff and visit the surgery.
“General Practice continues to be a pivotal part of health and social care in Northern Ireland. I want primary care to be the key delivery element of our shift left into a Neighbourhood model of healthcare.
“I appreciate GP Practices in south Armagh can be vulnerable due to the rural location, so I want to thank the Southern Trust for taking on the management of the practices in Mullaghbawn and Crossmaglen which has helped to stabilise services in the area.”
The Trust says it is now exploring how to build on recent progress at Mullaghbawn, Kilkeel and Rathkeeland and secure longer-term stability for patients registered at all three practices.
