Following months of negotiations with the Department of Health / SPPG we currently do not have a firm contractual offer to share.
We have requested a final offer from the Department of Health to present to GPs, but they have yet to provide one.
In the absence of a firm contractual offer, we are now sharing the final outline of the proposed contract, and we are asking members and non-members to vote in a referendum and inform us as to whether they would accept or reject the offer as it stands.
Background and context
When we began negotiations for the 2025-2026 contract, the negotiating team made it clear from the first meeting there were several ‘key asks’ in terms of what we believed was needed from this year’s contract agreement to stabilise and secure the future of general practice in Northern Ireland:
- An increase of £80million into core funding for general practice
- A fully funded indemnity solution for all GPs in Northern Ireland
- Funding to cover the increased costs of Employers National Insurance Contributions.
All of these are essential for GPs who are facing rising costs and increasing demand, putting additional pressure on an already stressed workforce. GPs have faced relentless criticism that patients are unable to see their GP or get an appointment,
despite the Department’s own data showing this is not the case; 200,000 appointments are delivered every week, that is 10% of the population seeing their GP every week. Annually in Northern Ireland there are just over 750,000 attendances at A&E, so it is clear the huge volume of work GPs are undertaking for a fraction of the health budget.
An increase of £80 million into core funding represents about 1% of the overall health budget in Northern Ireland. It will help stabilise general practice but will also show that the Department of Health values the contribution of general practitioners. Currently general practice receives only 5.4% of the health budget despite the huge workload GPs undertake.
As you will be aware the roll out of indemnity did not happen as we envisaged in 2024/25, therefore for this year's negotiations we were clear that any indemnity solution needed to fully cover the costs all GPs face for indemnity.
Unfortunately, the current proposals from the Department do not in our opinion meet these key asks. We now want to get the views of all GPs and therefore we are asking you to tell us whether or not you view what is being proposed as acceptable.
What is being offered?
| Our asks | Government response |
|---|---|
| £80m invested in core GMS | No additional investment in core GMS |
| A fully funded indemnity solution for all GPs | £5 million for indemnity, linked to practice capitation and not including sessional or salaried GPs |
| Full coverage of increased NIC costs | £3.6 million for this has been mentioned but it is not confirmed. |
In addition to what we see as an extremely poor response to our asks, in February the Department asked us to consider their paper on “Access to GP”. This contained 18 actions the Department feel will improve access to GP.
It quickly became apparent that this paper was a red line for the Department. The negotiating team committed to participating with Department in a working group that would consider each of the 18 proposed actions, despite the lack of rationale from the Department on why they had developed these actions or presenting any evidence that they would improve access. This was not enough for the Department, who want some of the actions implemented before they will agree a final contract offer.
We will not commit general practice to actions that have not been thoroughly discussed, and appropriately resourced.
Next steps
We are holding two online events on 1 May and 6 May to outline the current position and answer questions. These are open to members and non-members.
On 1 May we will send all GPs for whom we have contact details, a link to an online referendum where you will be asked if these proposals formed the basis of a contract offer would you accept or reject them. The referendum will be open until 11 May. The response to this referendum will inform our next steps.
If you reject the proposals we will consult further with GPs, potentially moving forward with further action unless an acceptable offer is received. We will also be engaging with our political representatives and encouraging them to relate this seriousness of this situation to the Minister.
If you accept the proposal, further engagement with the Department will be necessary to finalise a final contract offer due to their instance around progressing specific actions on access.