A GP crisis in Co Fermanagh has forced health chiefs to introduce a minibus to take patients to the nearest doctor 15 miles away.
The Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) in Belfast has set up a twice-daily service from the former Roslea surgery, which closed in April leaving 1,500 people without a GP for the first time in a century.
However, The Irish News has learned that no patients have yet used the six-seater bus, which has to be booked two days in advance, since it began on May 22. One patient made a booking earlier this week.
It has also emerged that a GP practice in Lisnaskea is struggling to deal with the volume of calls following the Roslea closure, with one woman saying she rang 120 times and some patients in outlying areas making a 40-mile round trip just to book an appointment.
GP services across the north, particularly in rural areas, have been hit by staff shortages with difficulties in recruiting new doctors against a backdrop of increasing patient demand.
The British Medical Association has warned that the situation in Fermanagh could easily be replicated elsewhere, with family practices in Belfast reporting pressures similar to their rural counterparts - and "multiple" on the brink of collapse.
The HSBC described the mini-bus scheme as an "interim measure" that involved no additional cost.
A patient with the Lisnaskea surgery, known as the Maple Group Practice, told The Irish News she spent almost two hours on the telephone trying to book an appointment.
"So many people have kicked up a stink with the Roslea closure and the Board promised they would help us but it doesn't seem to be working."
A spokeswoman for the Maple practice acknowledged it has had "difficulties" with its telephone system.
"A new system has been ordered by the Western Health and Social Care Trust and we are awaiting delivery. Our reception staff are working extremely hard to manage patient contacts with what is currently an inadequate switchboard," she said.
She added that the problem of extra patients was "not of our making".
"The Health and Social Care Board have contracted with Maple Healthcare to provide medical services to a large population in this area. We are responding to a crisis which was not of our making. Things will get better as the improvements are completed. Constructive suggestions to help us are always very welcome."
