A public plea has been made to save a community GP surgery in Derry from closure.
There has been widespread shock and anger in recent days after it emerged that Racecourse Medical Group, based at Shantallow Health Centre, had handed its contract back to the Department of Health.
It's understood that the decision had been made to hand the contract back to the DoH after a partner at the practice announced that they would be retiring.
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It's expected that the contract will continue for the next six months, with DoH working to ensure an alternative service is put in place for the patients.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health said: "We want to reassure patients that Racecourse Practice will continue to retain the contract to deliver GP services for the next six months.
"We will now begin a recruitment process to put new arrangements in place to deliver GP services.
"Patients at the practice do not need to take any action. They should continue to contact the Practice as normal.
"We will be writing out to all practice patients to keep them informed as this process begins."
Meanwhile, a petition has been started by campaigner Damien Doherty who said that the Western Trust must step in if a GP is not found to continue the service.
He added: "Frontline GP services for the greater Shantallow area are a vital service for the community and have been for several generations.
"Losing these services will have an awful impact on the patients of the medical centre and a knock-on effect on surrounding GP services."
Those signing the petition, which nearly has 500 signatures, also left messages of concern, with one writing: "We need these doctors to stay open. They are the best GP practice and the staff are great. Save our health service."
Another wrote: "We need GP services and properly supported especially in the Shantallow area."
Derry City and Strabane District Councillor Emmet Doyle said that the department must put a plan in place to "stabilise" the current situation.
He said: "How did the Department not see this coming? Surely they would have known a retirement was on the cards given the age of medical professionals.
"At the last count, the practice had a patient list of 4,821 - and whilst services will continue in Shantallow for six months, if the Department doesn’t put every resource into addressing this problem, there could be a city-wide crisis in GP accessibility.
"GP leaders have been saying this could happen publicly for a long period.
"Officials now need to develop a plan that will ensure a stable and secure GP practice at Racecourse Medical and I’ve already written to the relevant senior officials asking for this to be made their top priority."
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