A GP practice in Bangor has been without a dedicated practice nurse since 2018, after a unique arrangement with the South Eastern Trust ended. Castle Park Practice, based at Bangor Health Centre, was excluded from standard funding provided to all other GP surgeries in Northern Ireland under contracts introduced in 2004. Instead, the Trust supplied a practice nurse, a situation described by North Down MLA Alan Chambers as a 'wholly unique arrangement'.

The practice nurse retired in 2018, and the Trust did not provide a replacement. When Castle Park Practice requested funding to employ its own nurse, the Department of Health denied the request. Mr Chambers said the practice has been disadvantaged ever since, unable to offer the full range of services patients expect.

Mr Chambers said he first raised the issue with the then Health Minister Mike Nesbitt and officials from the Strategic Planning and Performance Group (SPPG). He said the SPPG acknowledged the anomaly but only offered a correction when new GP contracts are produced in future, directing the practice back to the Trust.

Mr Chambers said the Trust initially had no knowledge of the nurse or the unique employment arrangement. After the practice supplied the nurse's identity, no further information emerged for months. He then arranged a meeting between the practice partners and new Health Minister Robbie Butler. Trust officials attended and acknowledged the retired nurse was on their payroll, but her records listed her as part of the district nurse team, with no mention of working in the GP practice.

Mr Chambers said the meeting raised more questions than answers. He has arranged a further meeting with Trust senior management to examine record-keeping failures. He said the situation needs urgent resolution, either by providing funding to Castle Park Practice to employ a nurse or by the Trust supplying a replacement.

A South Eastern Trust spokeswoman said the Trust does not provide practice nurses in GP practices, but does provide treatment room nursing services. GP practices are commissioned and funded for practice nurses by the Department of Health.