RCGPNI responds to Department of Health announcement on agreed GP contract and additional investment

Responding to the announcement of an agreed contract for GPs in Northern Ireland Dr Ursula Mason Chair of RCGPNI said:

“We welcome a multi-year commitment to increase investment in general practice in Northern Ireland.

Practices are struggling to meet increasing financial demands and deliver timely and good quality care to our patients with the resource currently available.

Improving access for patients is directly linked to having enough GPs, and practice stability. This can only be achieved with sufficient funding in place.

I hope this agreement will be seen as step in the right direction but it is clear that there is a much greater funding gap that will need to be bridged to take general practice to a place where we can sustainably deliver the capacity to provide the care that our patients need and deserve.

General practice in Northern Ireland receives a much smaller proportion of the health care spend compared to England Scotland and Wales and we need to see an incremental investment promise from our Department of Health to not just bring our funding into line but to ensure that it grows relative to need.

The delivery of a neighbourhood model of care for Northern Ireland is a positive step for our communities, but its success will be reliant on having a strong and enduring foundation of general practice"

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Further information

For press enquiries, please contact:

Anna McDaid (Interim RCGP NI Policy and Public Affairs Manager) anna.mcdaid@rcgp.org.uk

Notes to editors

The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 54,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training, research and clinical standards.