The South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust has agreed to take on the contract for two Co Down surgeries after efforts to secure new doctors failed.
It was announced last August that the current GP partners at Priory Surgery in Holywood, which incorporates Springhill Surgery in Bangor, would be handing back their contract to health bosses in early 2023.
The practices said they would stop providing General Medical Services from February 1 if no new doctors could be found.
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The surgery operates out of two sites in Holywood and Bangor and provides GP services for 14,525 patients.
The Priory and Springhill GP Practice was scheduled to shut early this year unless new doctors were found to run them by February 1. But following the failure of negotiations, the Trust will now run them on a temporary basis.
In a statement on Monday afternoon, the Department of Health said the South Eastern Health Trust will now run the surgeries on a temporary basis.
A DoH spokesperson added: "The Department of Health can confirm that the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust has agreed to take on the contract for Priory and Springhill surgeries located in Holywood and Bangor, North Down.
"Under this new temporary arrangement, which will take effect from 1 February 2023, the Trust will work with the Department to secure ongoing locum GP cover for the practice.
"It follows extensive work to identify a new GP contractor to take over the practice, following the resignation of the current GP Partners.
"Patients do not need to take any action. Patients of the practice can be assured that its services will continue under the new arrangement. They will receive letters on the situation over the coming days. Patients needing GP services should continue to contact the practice as normal."
The Chief Executive of the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, Roisin Coulter, said: “We understand this is a very worrying time for patients belonging to the Priory and Springhill GP practices.
“The Trust will continue to work very closely with our GP and Department of Health colleagues to minimise disruption and ensure continuity of essential GP services for patients.”
Dr Alan Stout, BMA NI GP committee chair, said the move is is yet another example of the perilous state that general practice in Northern Ireland is in.
He added: “This practice was in trouble many months ago. An enthusiastic new contractor did express an interest in taking on the practice but realised it would be impossible to get enough GPs to work there with them to meet the workload.
”The current funding structures where the amount GPs get per patient has not increased sufficiently also contributed to their decision to decline taking the practice over.
“We need to urgently resolve our workforce crisis and ensure that General Practice has a sustainable future; we need to address the indemnity issue, stabilise the workload and move away from the narrative that GPs are working ‘part time’ or are closed to patients when GPs across Northern Ireland are doing the very best they can to meet demand.
“The Trust taking on a contract like this is an emergency measure and cannot be seen as the future of general practice. We will work closely with them to try to ensure an alternative solution.”
Alliance Party North Down MLA Andrew Muir said long-term partners for the practice must be put in place without delay.
“I am deeply concerned we now find ourselves in this situation. I have been inundated with correspondence from constituents terrified they will not be able to access primary care from February onwards.
”We had received reassurances from the Department negotiations were ongoing and details were being ironed out following new contractors being identified during recent months.
“I welcome communication from the Trust stating the surgeries will remain open and under their direct management, and patients should continue to contact the surgeries as normal in the time ahead.
”We are urgently seeking a meeting with the Department to get confirmation around operational details in light of this announcement and reassurance around the levels of service offered to patients in the months ahead.”
Mr Muir added: “Unfortunately, this situation reflects the broader crisis our health service is facing at present with an acute shortage of doctors and sky-high demand for services. It is deeply concerning we are having to navigate this crisis without a Minster or functioning Executive in place.”
Last month, it was confirmed that a new contractor has been secured for patients at another at-risk GP surgery in North Belfast.
Flax Medical Centre in Ardoyne handed back its contract to the Department of Health which meant that unless a new GP was secured the practice, which provides health care for over 3,000 people, would close.
The practice is located in the Flax Centre on Ardoyne Avenue and was established by Dr Tan in the early 1990s.
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