Nesbitt accused of ‘flippant’ and ‘dismissive’ attitude to GPs’ funding concerns

Stormont Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has been accused of a “dismissive“ and “flippant“ tone towards GPs who say they are facing a funding crisis.

A British Medical Association (BMA) representative told a Stormont committee that general practice seems “not to be a priority“ for Mr Nesbitt after he implemented a disputed funding contract.

But the minister has insisted he was “honest and accurate” when delivering a statement to the Assembly earlier this week.

On Monday, Mr Nesbitt said he would impose the 2025/26 General Medical Services (GMS) contract on GPs, even after it had been rejected in a ballot of BMA GPs.

The minister said there would be a package of £9.5 million in additional core funding for services for GPs.

Dr Frances O’Hagan, chairwoman of the British Medical Association (BMA) Northern Ireland GP committee, said she had intended to use her appearance before the Stormont Health Committee to update MLAs on the contract negotiations.

She added: “It is safe to say Monday changed all that.

“My colleagues are deeply saddened by the minister’s statement on Monday, his dismissive comments and at times flippant tone showed just how out of touch he is with his officials about the crisis that is going on in general practice at the minute.

“It is difficult to think of another profession anywhere in the health service that has been spoken about the way GPs have been spoken about in both the Assembly and in the media over the last few days.

“This is the first time that a sitting minister in Northern Ireland has chosen to impose the GMS contract on GPs and to say that GPs across the country are frustrated and angry is a complete understatement.“

Dr O’Hagan said there was “obviously a huge gulf between our members and the minister”.

She said the BMA had asked for an increase in core funding for surgeries.

She added: “Our ask for £80 million is to stabilise general practice, keep the lights on, retain and recruit additional staff.

“This represents 1% of the health budget, which is £8 billion.

“It was suggested numerous times, both in the media and the Assembly, that this was a blank cheque, which could not be further from the truth.

“It is to stabilise our service.”

She added: “Practices have been collapsing around the minister and he has chosen to ignore that.

“We can only reach the conclusion that general practice is not a priority for our minister.”

When announcing his decision to implement the contract, Mr Nesbitt had raised concerns over general practice surgeries where patients are having to phone hundreds of times to get an appointment.

Dr O’Hagan said: “I fully understand the frustration of patients, phoning a surgery repeatedly only to be told there are no appointments.

“Something we as GPs are desperate to change, it is so frustrating to us that this happens.”

She added: “The phone-in experience is a symptom of demand in general practice and the lack of investment in core funding to cope with this demand.

“We have been stressing this crisis for over 15 years.”

Dr O’Hagan told the committee: “It is premature for the minister to conclude negotiations as he did.

“As GPs we give you our heartfelt assurance that we will keep fighting for our service.

“We will keep fighting for a safe service for our patients, we will keep fighting to provide more for patients.

“But to do that, we then have to have more to be able to provide more.”

Committee chair Philip McGuigan urged the minister to re-engage with the BMA.

He said: “We are all a bit shocked and disappointed with what we heard (from) the minister and the tone of his commentary on Monday.”

Speaking to the media later on Thursday, Mr Nesbitt said there was no point denying that there was a problem with access to GP services.

He said: “I was setting out to be honest and to be accurate in my statement and that is what I was, I was honest and I was accurate.

“We don’t have £80 million. We have a shortfall that is now north of £600 million because pay awards add about £200 million of pressures to the budget.

“There is a problem with access and we cannot deny that, we have to face up to it and we have to try and deal with it.”

He added: “They (GPs) know that my intention is to shift left, which means we get the focus off the acute hospitals into primary care, into community care, into social care, into prevention and early intervention and that is the thing that GPs do best.

“I think we have got a solid foundation in terms of our joint aims and ambitions going forward.”