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Dr Diamond, who is based at Garden Street Surgery in Magherafelt and Bellaghy Medical Centre, said "when general practice goes, the NHS goes".

The doctor said he is in the latter years of his career within general practice and had envisaged he would see it out in the NHS.

He said he would like the minister to "sit down properly with our representatives and have a discussion about the needs that general practice has and respect those needs rather than just dismiss us".

A GP who wrote a scathing letter to Northern Ireland's health minister accusing him of "complete disrespect" for general practice has said those working in the sector are at their "wits' end".

The Department of Health said the minister "remains open to discussion as to how best to secure the future of general practice so that it can remain a central part of primary care services now and in the future".