headline: Ballymena: GP surgery closures will have 'devastating effect'
text: A GP has warned the closure of two surgeries in Ballymena could have a "devastating effect" on neighbouring practices.
  urgeries have indicated that they intend to resign affecting around 7,000 patients.
  Dr Susan Sproule, a GP in Ballymena, said taking on the extra patients "dilutes the service" provided.
  Department of Health (DoH) said both practices were offering services as normal.
  wo surgeries are among six based in the same health centre in Ballymena.
  Dr Sproule, who runs another practice based in the centre, said her practice had not received any extra resources to deal with the potential extra patients.
  She said: "When we take on extra patients we're not just talking about GP time, we're talking about other members of the primary care team.
  "If we don't have that extra resource it's very hard to provide a safe service."
  Department of Health confirmed one of the practices, Ballymena Family Practice, had found no one interested in taking over the running of the surgery.
  It means the practice's 3,204 patients will be assigned to 18 neighbouring surgeries when it closes its doors on 1 January 2023.
  rtment said additional funding would be provided to each practice for every additional patient they take on.
  Dr Sproule warned the added pressure on her practice has left her considering if she might also be forced to hand back the contract for her own practice.
  "We have to be truthful not only to our profession but to our patients and I think at some point patient safety has to come into this," she said.
  "It is fundamental and if we can't provide a safe service we will have no other choice but to possibly hand our own contracts back."
  Across Northern Ireland, the number of GP practices has fallen by just under 9% in eight years according to Department of Health Figures.
  Despite the decrease in practices, the number of GPs, excluding locums, has gone up by 20% to 1,419 since 2014.
  Belfast - Flax Medical Centre, Belfast, County Antrim
  Northern - Ballymena Family Practice, Ballymena, County Antrim
  South Eastern - Priory Surgery, Holywood, County Down. 
  Western, Maple Healthcare Practice, Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh.
  raditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister is an assembly member for North Antrim, he said patients at the practices are facing an "unbearable situation that cannot be allowed to happen".
  "We need to recruit professionals from elsewhere but we also need to discourage professionals leaving the province to go elsewhere," he added.