Up to 80 new jobs across Northern Ireland at private GP provider
A private GP provider has announced a £4.5m investment that could create up to 80 new jobs across NI.
Duality Healthcare has announced it's completed a round of investment, and aims to use the new funds to expand its number of clinics in Northern Ireland.
There are currently locations in Newry, Ballymena and Omagh, with plans to open more this year and in 2026.
Duality Healthcare's John McEvoy and Dr Declan Morgan
News Catch Up - Thursday 7th August
The company also aims to expand its 'virtual care service across the UK' while also investing 'in digital systems to enhance patient experience and clinical efficiency.'
The 80 new roles are planned to be in 'clinical, digital and operational roles in Northern Ireland'.
Duality is NI's largest private GP service, and was founded in 2023 by Dr Declan Morgan and John McEvoy.
It advertises access to its GPs within 24 hours of contact, same-day urgent care, ultrasound and echocardiogram scans and ear care services.
Duality Healthcare has announced £4.5m of investment after completing a funding round
It describes its mission as 'delivering convenient, high-quality, affordable care to patients across Northern Ireland and beyond with an aim to complement and alleviate pressures on NHS capacity and resources'.
John McEvoy, executive chairman and co-founder, said: 'Securing this investment is a significant milestone for our team and a strong endorsement of our vision to provide high-quality, patient-centred healthcare that is affordable and accessible to everyone in Northern Ireland.
'This investment follows a period of rapid growth and with our expansion plans and commitment to innovation, we're proud to be creating new jobs, supporting local communities, and raising the bar for private primary care services in Northern Ireland'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Weight loss pill that helped patients shift 12% of body mass may soon be on NHS
A weight-loss tablet, which could be a cheaper and easier alternative to jabs and has seen patients during a trial lose up to almost 2st, could soon be available on the NHS A powerful new generation of weight-loss pill that could provide hope for millions of patients is set to be considered by regulators for NHS approval. A trial found overweight people taking the medication lost up to almost 2st – or 12% of their body weight – after 18 months. The maker, US firm Lilly, said it will seek the go-ahead by regulators for the drug orforglipron. It could be a cheaper and easier alternative to weight-loss jabs, which have to be refrigerated. The daily tablet is a GLP-1 agonist, which can cut appetite. Like jabs, the pill mimics the effects of hormones that make us feel full. Lilly also makes weight-loss jab Mounjaro. It comes after the NHS warned mouth symptom could be life-shortening disease. Kenneth Custer, of Lilly, said: 'We're working to transform obesity care with a potential once-daily oral therapy that could support early intervention and long-term disease management, while offering a convenient alternative to injectable treatments. 'We are planning to submit orforglipron for regulatory review by year-end.' It will need to be approved as safe by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency before the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence decides if it is cost-effective for the NHS. The Mirror understands guidance is expected next year on whether it will be available on the health service. The study found 60% of people on the highest dose of orforglipron lost at least 10% of their body weight. While 40% of people shed at least 15% of their body weight. The study of 3,127 overweight adults also found benefits such as better cholesterol. Lilly said the safety profile of the tablet is similar to other GLP-1 drugs, with gastrointestinal issues the most common side effect. Dr Simon Cork, senior lecturer in physiology at Anglia Ruskin University, said: 'These early results on the effectiveness of orforglipron in promoting clinically significant weight loss are a positive step forward in the development of this class of drugs. 'Their effects on weight loss are not as profound as that seen in [jabs]. 'Nevertheless, that this medication is an oral form, rather than injectable, will likely be seen as more tolerable for many. Manufacturing costs are also anticipated to be significantly lower.' An estimated 1.5 million people in the UK use weight-loss medication, most privately. Mounjaro was due to be rolled out across the NHS in England from June 23 for those with the highest clinical need, but a probe found only eight of 42 NHS integrated care boards are providing it at present. Nearly half of boards say they will cap the number they treat due to lack of funding. NHS England says the plan is for jabs to bemore widely available. Figures suggest about 29% of adults are obese. Another new study has found GLP-1s may have other benefits such as improving Alzheimer's and liver disease.
Telegraph
3 hours ago
- Telegraph
Disgruntled doctors should stop wasting their time striking
Like many NHS doctors, I have seriously considered moving abroad in search of better working conditions. It was therefore no surprise to read the recent report from the General Medical Council (GMC), highlighting that 43 per cent of UK doctors have explored career opportunities overseas. Reportedly, 15 per cent of these doctors have taken 'hard steps' towards leaving UK practice. I have taken these very steps – attending interviews in Australia, visiting schools for my children, and exploring different neighbourhoods. For the time being, family commitments have led me to remain in the UK. According to the GMC report, one in eight (12 per cent) of doctors are considering leaving the UK to work abroad, with nearly one in five (19 per cent) said to be considering quitting the profession altogether. Of course, there is always a gulf between stated intentions and ultimate actions. But the question still remains: why are UK medics so unhappy? Hot on the heels of recent junior doctor strike action, these statistics are yet another reminder of the precarious state of the nation's health service. Many doctors find their working conditions unsustainable and are disillusioned by the substandard care they are forced to deliver to patients. So much so many will choose to leave friends and loved ones, moving ten thousand miles across the globe, in order to work in better resourced hospitals and GP surgeries (where they also receive better pay). Australia – the main beneficiary of the NHS's failure to retain its medical trainees – naturally welcomes British doctors: with streamlined pathways for GPs to relocate, and recruitment agents advertising at picket lines outside NHS hospitals. The exodus of UK doctors from the NHS has been celebrated by Nicole Higgins, the president of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. She has stated: 'They've made a huge difference to rural and regional Australia… to our workforce as a whole.' I have been told by friends that in some Australian hospitals, at least half of the doctors in the emergency departments are British-trained, NHS escapees. The 'brain drain' of doctors leaving the NHS is estimated to cost the UK taxpayer billions of pounds annually; it is a symptom of a health service on its knees. It goes without saying that Streeting and Starmer need to get a grip on the retention of the UK's medical workforce. However, ongoing disputes between the government and the British Medical Association suggest there is no treaty on the horizon. The irony is that many of the doctors who choose to emigrate to Australia continue to support the founding principles of the NHS; despite finding the conditions in the UK intolerable, and preferring to work in a mixed public-private health care system that is primarily funded through health insurance. Arguably, disgruntled British doctors should stop wasting their time striking for higher pay and start demanding root and branch reform of the NHS. International comparisons suggest they would be able to deliver higher quality healthcare while potentially standing to benefit from better pay and conditions. Yet the ideological hold the NHS has on the population, successive governments, and doctors past and present, means that these arguments rarely gain any traction. Instead British doctors lament the 'underfunding' of the NHS while complaining about poor pay and unsafe patient care. The Labour Government find themselves struggling to square the circle of providing a universal, state-funded healthcare system which does not bankrupt the public finances. Meanwhile, the Australians look on in bemusement and rub their hands in glee.
Metro
4 hours ago
- Metro
Weight-loss drugs, characteristic compassion and bus stop battles
Do you agree with our readers? Have your say on these MetroTalk topics and more in the comments. KT (MetroTalk, Thu) complains at their taxes paying for other people's weight-loss treatments – but it actually makes sound economic sense. Healthier people are able to work longer, thus contributing more in taxes themselves, while obese people are more likely to suffer weight-related illnesses, which are themselves a drain on NHS resources. There is no call to vilify those carrying extra weight. Anybody can fall into bad habits and we all make unwise choices from time to time. So long as the people treated are able to make the lifestyle changes required to remain healthy afterwards, this represents a net gain. The drugs quite literally pay for themselves. Julian Self, Wolverton What a closed-minded question KT posed. By that logic, we might as well ask why should my taxes pay for NHS services for people with drug addictions, for NHS costs relating to alcohol-fuelled driving accidents or for NHS treatment of other people's anxiety and depression? Are you among those who believe that anxiety and depression exist simply due to a lack of willpower? Public services are not self-interested and lacking in empathy. Mike, Manchester Adrian (MetroTalk, Wed) asks why Gaza children are being brought into 'destitute' Britain for NHS treatment when they 'should be sent to oil-rich countries such as Saudi Arabia'. Who told him the UK is destitute? We are far wealthier and more powerful than Saudi Arabia in every respect. Also, we are ceaselessly proclaiming how generous, welcoming, tolerant and compassionate we are. Perhaps this characteristic of Britishness is rapidly being destroyed by the utterly distorted and deceitful malevolence of some politicians and their altogether too-keen followers – and being replaced by spitefulness, bigotry,intolerance and fanaticism. Saif Deen, Luton Richard (MetroTalk, Wed) would like to bring back queuing at bus stops. Personally, I don't miss queues and prefer to wait away from the road, anyway. In the 1970s it was not uncommon for buses to become full so you couldn't get on. This rarely happens nowadays, which shows how much better the bus services are. If the bus isn't going to be full, does it matter who gets on first? Nick, London I totally agree with Agatha (MetroTalk, Wed) that anti-social, selfish viewers without headsets on public transport are a menace. I don't bother trying to reason with them and just stand over their shoulder and comment on what they're watching. Seems to work. Tony, Bognor Regis I loved the Nigel Farage cartoon (Metro, Thu), picturing him saying 'Get me an AI company, I'd never have to go to Clacton again'. To which a colleague replies 'Again?' It's a struggle these days to know where to start in Metro: cartoon, MetroTalk jokes or Rush Hour Crush. All quality Staines It is now 80 years since the two atomic bombings of Japan (Metro, Thu) and we should remember the consequences. On a recent trip to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and park, it was so easy to see how horrible the bombing was for everyone. It is an event that should never happen again and yet Vladimir Putin has mentioned the possibility of a nuclear attack and the bombs are still ready to go. As the saying goes, 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it' – and those that ignore it and make threats are evil. Dennis Fitzgerald, by email I have worked in the NHS for 24 years now. I cut my head quite badly last week, which needed some stitches. Put off by a five-hour wait, I did not bother. More Trending Meanwhile, my dog cut its pad quite badly two weeks ago. I was in and out of the vet's in less than an hour and it only cost £70. I would gladly have paid this to have my head stitched. This implies animals get a better service. More on from this, my other dog had an aggressive mast-cell tumour a few years back. This was diagnosed and operated on in just three days. The NHS would never match this… Anon, by email MORE: The Metro daily cartoon by Guy Venables MORE: New Look's Jacquemus-inspired dress looks just like its designer alternative – for £1088 less MORE: CrossFit-approved: Meet the gym shoe that'll take you from barbell to brunch
