Leading Northern Ireland GPs warn politicians of 'severe' crisis

This comes amid widespread pressures on hospitals across Northern Ireland, with emergency departments in particular under severe strain.

The Department of Health, meanwhile, has warned that flu is circulating at the highest level recorded since before the coronavirus pandemic – with “a significant rise in COVID-19 rates” also having been recorded last month.

Dr Ursula Mason, chair of the Royal College of GPs in Northern Ireland and Dr Alan Stout, chair of BMA GP Committee in Northern Ireland met with representatives from the five main political parties on Thursday – Sinn Fein’s Colm Gildernew, the DUP’s Pam Cameron, Alliance’s Paula Bradshaw, the UUP’s Alan Chambers and the SDLP’s Colin McGrath – to outline the scale of the crisis facing general practice in Northern Ireland.

Speaking after the event Dr Mason said: "We welcomed the opportunity to engage with our local political representatives today, but the backdrop of our conversation was challenging as general practice faces unprecedented pressure and a risk of total destabilisation across the region.

“We are also acutely aware that our ability to respond to the crisis is significantly reduced by the lack of a functioning Government in Northern Ireland and we repeated our call for elected representatives to get back to the table and do the job they were elected to do, for the sake of our health service."

Dr Stout added: “At today’s meeting we made it clear that if action is not taken soon to address the issues and stabilise general practice the consequences for patients will be severe. We have consistently highlighted the problems we are facing, there are not enough GPs coming into the profession, an increasing number of GPs are choosing to retire early and there is a huge and relentless workload across the system.

“Every day I hear from GP colleagues who are at breaking point and struggling to keep the doors open."

The BMA GP committee chair added: “It is therefore no surprise this has manifested itself in GP practices being forced to hand back their contracts and leaving communities without the vital service we provide."