NI Health Minister Secures £40m GP Deal as BMA Calls It a Start
Northern Ireland has a new GP contract, with £40m of extra funding, after a dispute that began when family doctors withdrew some services. The British Medical Association (BMA) says the money is only a start.
What the deal contains
Health minister Robbie Butler has reached the agreement after more than a year in which GPs held back some services over funding. He said the contract will make it "easier" to get a doctor's appointment.
The Department of Health said the extra £40m is committed over two years and is meant to bring measurable gains in patient access and in primary care work. The in-year value of the 2026/27 General Medical Services Contract is about £17m. Butler's own figure was £17.7m.
The money is tied to provisions within the deal, particularly engagement with the neighbourhood model. That model expands surgeries so that multi-disciplinary teams work from one site, with physiotherapists, mental health workers and social workers holding clinics alongside GPs.
Butler said this team-based approach is where the whole health and social care system is heading.
How the dispute began
A GP contract is the formal agreement under which practices provide general medical services for the Department of Health.
In May 2025 Butler's predecessor, Mike Nesbitt, imposed a financial package after GPs rejected the deal. That triggered a work to rule. Under it, GPs skipped non-essential paperwork, capped appointments at 25 a day, the limit the BMA calls safe, and dropped services outside the contract.
Butler, who was appointed in August, said securing a new contract was a first-day priority.
Why the BMA says it falls short
Dr Frances O'Hagan chairs the BMA's Northern Ireland general practitioners committee. She said the £40m would pay for more GPs and receptionists, raising capacity in surgeries. But she called the sum "a start" and said it was by no means all that is needed.
On her figures, Northern Ireland spends less than 5% of its health budget on primary care while GPs deliver 95% of consultations. A budget that works well for patients, she said, is around 10%. She also did the sum on £20m a year across two million patients: £10 per patient per year. She asked what that could provide.
Her stated minimum of 10%, and a longer-term ambition of 15%, would come closer to £80m a year than the £20m allocated.
Where the money comes from
Asked where the extra money came from, given that Stormont has not agreed a budget, and whether it is guaranteed, Butler said it will arrive over the next two years, subject to the provisions in the contract. He accepted the £40m is not a panacea and pointed to money going into digital IT. He also said some practices do not seem to have the same access problems, so the aim is to learn from them and spread good practice across the province.
Philip McGuigan, chair of Stormont's Health Committee, gave a cautious welcome to the end of the dispute. He said the committee wants more detail, including where the money is coming from, and that patients will rate the deal by whether a booking is there when they need it.
Source: BBC News