Last year GP partners in Northern Ireland voted overwhelmingly in favour of collective action, 98.7% of those who voted said they were willing to take collective action.
Our action ensured the Department of Health suspended the unworkable 2025-2026 access changes and committed to put to new funding into core GMS in 2026-2027 if NIGPC returned to the negotiating table.
We were optimistic that our message had been heard - that the Minister of Health had realised that stable and sustainable general practice in Northern Ireland was crucial before we can make further progress on service transformation toward a neighbourhood model.
However, despite the good faith of NIGPC, the promised additional funding into core GMS hasn’t been delivered, and negotiations on a 2026-2027 contract agreement have gone nowhere.
Despite the progress we have made through our collective action, we now need to go further to protect general practice in Northern Ireland.
Undelivered commitments
The Department of Health committed to amend practice data and subsequent global sum allocations for 2026-2027 to reflect updated demographic information, based on the 2021 census – an exercise already undertaken in other nations.
To ensure that no practice lost out as a result funding changes, there was an agreement that an additional £5.2m would be added to the global sum envelope to maintain existing baselines.
In addition, the Department was to allocate £8.1m funding to be put directly to all practices global sum, based on its 2026-2027 weighted list size.
These commitments of recurrent funded led NIGPC to re-enter contract negotiations in good faith. Yet, months into the financial year, none of this has been provided to practices and further 2026-2027 negotiations have gone nowhere to sustain and stabilise general practice.
Withdrawal from engagement with neighbourhood model
As a result of the failure of the Department of Health to deliver on its commitments to general practice, NIGPC has taken the decision to pause engagement with work relating to the development of a neighbourhood model with immediate effect.
NIGPC's position remains clear, meaningful engagement on new models of care requires a stable and sustainable core general practice service first.
This is not a decision that has been taken lightly. NIGCP recognises that care closer to the community, driven by general practice, is a positive aim. However, further progress on the neighbourhood model depends on commitment and respect from both sides, and neither have been demonstrated by the Department.
Collective action continues
We remain in dispute for the 2025-2026 contract and you should continue with the steps you have taken for collective action. The contract was imposed on us last year, and that is unacceptable. Negotiations for 2026-2027 have not offered sufficient improvement.
The ballot for collective action and the subsequent action that you undertook, shows your commitment to general practice and your willingness to act to safeguard and improve it.
Many of the measures you have been undertaking as part of collective action were unfunded, therefore you should not resume those tasks.
#GPsAreOnYourSide
To strengthen public support for general practice , we encourage GPs to display posters in their surgeries and use the graphics provided for your own social media platforms. These materials are designed to highlight the challenges faced by general practice and demonstrate the collective efforts being made to ensure quality healthcare for all. By engaging patients and the wider community, we aim to foster greater understanding and advocacy for the changes we urgently need.
- Download poster 1
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- Download social media graphic 1
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Full background and context
In May 2025, GPs in Northern Ireland were asked in a ballot if they rejected or accepted the contract on offer from the Department of Health. 99.6% of those who voted indicated that they rejected the offer. The health minister subsequently said that negotiations were concluded and he moved to impose the contract.
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 around 5% of the health budget despite the huge workload GPs undertake.
A subsequent collective action referendum of GP partners led to an overwhelming response - 98.7% of those who voted said they were willing to take collective action.
This action will continue and, potentially, escalate further until general practice in Northern Ireland is put on a stable and sustainable footing.