15th May 2023

A significant extension and refurbishment of Mourne Family Surgery in Kilkeel, Co. Down has recently been completed and is making a considerable difference for patients and staff at the practice. It currently provides services for approximately 5,000 patients from Kilkeel and the surrounding areas.

New Physio room at Mourne Family Practice
As a result of sustained growth in patient numbers and in the practice clinical team, it was necessary for Mourne Family Surgery to increase clinical capacity. The extension and reconfiguration works have enabled the practice to create additional consulting rooms. This consists of an improved treatment room, interview room, enhancements to the admin functions and improved consulting space for the delivery of gynae services not only for the patients of the practice but also for the wider Newry and Mourne area.

Dr Laurence Dorman in new gynae suite at Mourne Family Practice
The additional space allows the practice to continue to deliver a broad range of General Medical Services by its dedicated Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) of GPs, GP trainees, Nurses, Counsellor, Pharmacist and visiting Trust staff. The HSCNI MDT initiative is part of a regional roll-out plan, involving the allocation of Physiotherapists, Social workers and Mental Health professionals in general practice, working alongside the existing practice clinical team. The MDT model aims to deliver more services closer to patients’ homes.
“We are delighted with the extension and refurbishment and not a day goes by without positive comments from our patients,” said Dr Dorman, Mourne Family Surgery. “It has given our staff a huge boost and has helped our team enormously. The extension will increase our capacity to meet the demands of our patients by offering in house MDT services. We have a mental health worker already seeing patients in her new room and we hope to accommodate an advanced physiotherapy practitioner and social worker soon. We have also been able to host GP Trainees and medical students from Queens University Belfast which we did not have the space for in our old premises.”
“I was delighted to visit the practice and see first-hand the real improvement the works have made,” said Elaine Hunter, programme director, Department of Health. “Supporting investment in GP practices is a key priority for the DoH. In total, around £6 million in funding has been provided across the Southern Health and Social Care Trust area in the last three years, to increase capacity within primary care premises.”
The reconfiguration project was-funded by the Department of Health (DoH) Primary Care Infrastructure Development Programme and was project managed by Southern Trust with assistance from the Practice.