Row over GP funding deepens: Body says health minister Mike Nesbitt's actions could cause more doctors to quit

The Royal College of GPs (RCGP) has added its voice to earlier condemnation of the funding plans from the British Medical Association (BMA).

The RCGP says the minister's handling of the situation has "further demoralised" GPs, and that his actions risk leading to more GPs quitting.

The BMA is the trade union for doctors, and is in charge of negotiating a funding settlement with the Department of Health known as "the GP contract". It has about 1,300 GP members in Northern Ireland.

The RCGP meanwhile runs the training of GPs; in order to practice, for instance, they have to pass an RCGP exam. It has about 1,400 members in the Province.

The whole dispute centres on the updates to the GP contract for 2025/26.

The BMA said the department had offered £1m additional in core funding (meaning the amount paid for each patient on a surgery’s books); plus £3.5m to neutralise the National Insurance rise; plus £5m to cover GPs' "indemnity" (the insurance each GP must take out).

The deal also came with 17 conditions attached, designed to make it easier to book a GP appointment.

The BMA put this deal to its members, who rejected it.

It had been holding out for an extra £80m in core funding (plus extending the proposed indemnity support to cover locums as well as GPs who are fixed to a particular surgery).

Mr Nesbitt said on Monday that he would press ahead with the new contract anyway.

It remains to be seen what the BMA may do; its GPs cannot launch an all-out strike due to their contract obligations, but might decide to limit the number of patients they see, for instance.

Now the RCGP's chairwoman Dr Ursula Mason has said doctors are "dismayed" by Mr Nesbitt's "unprecedented step".

She said a "root cause" of difficulty in getting GP appointments is "chronic underfunding".

"We have a finite number of GPs, a finite number of other clinicians who can help patients, and a finite number of appointments we can offer on any given day," she said.

"The minister’s comments have further demoralised an already exhausted workforce, and the impact which it has had on the profession should not be underestimated.

"GPs and their teams want to be able to ensure all their patients receive safe, appropriate and timely care. But demand is escalating: while the number of registered patients is growing, whole-time equivalent GP numbers have fallen, yet we are providing 200,000 consultations every week.

"GPs have been providing more and more with less and less but cannot continue to do so.

"Many of our GP colleagues are burnt out with increasing numbers leaving the profession, citing workload and workforce pressures.

"The number of contract handbacks [surgery closures] in recent years serve to illustrate the financial and recruitment challenges facing hard-working GPs who only want to deliver the best possible care for their patients.

"We are concerned that imposing this contract could worsen this situation, particularly if significant additional resources do not follow."

Mr Nesbitt has said: “When I took up post, the last thing I was looking for was a fight. I have huge respect for the tens of thousands of wonderful colleagues who deliver excellent healthcare each and every day in Northern Ireland…

“That said, I did not come into post to make promises I could not keep or agree to demands that the budget cannot possibly satisfy.”

The average earnings of a GP partner (that is, a GP who owns their surgery) in Northern Ireland is around £108,300, with the average earnings for the GPs who work under them being £63,100.

Both sets of earnings are several thousand pounds lower than the average in England, Scotland, or Wales.