General practice in crisis, conference told

General practice is in crisis in Northern Ireland with more than 20 practices at risk of closing within the next year. The stark prediction was made by chair of Northern Ireland GPs committee Tom Black during his address to the 2016 local medical committees conference in County Down at the weekend. Dr Black said general practice needed ‘greater funding and an increased workforce to meet the increasing demands and needs of the public’. He added: ‘We have the lowest number of GPs, the lowest funding and the highest workload of the four UK countries. ‘We have practices closing, merging, struggling to survive. We have already taken positive actions to address this. 'Working with the health board and [Department of health, social services and public safety] to develop a GP-led primary care plan outlining the way forward for general practice, we have established 17 GP federations that will help GPs cope with their workload, attract increased funding into primary care and provide more positive, attractive environment for GPs and their staff to work in. 'These things aren’t a solution, but they are a start.’   'Determination and solidarity' Dr Black called for ‘determination and solidarity from GPs’ to tackle the issues faced by general practice in Northern Ireland. He said: ‘It will require a combination of increased resource, a larger workforce and innovation throughout the system to bring general practice back to its...
Source: BMA News - Category: UK Health Source Type: news