Northern Ireland’s hard-pressed practices are to lose a million pounds in funding, it has been claimed.

80% of practices in the region will lose because of adjustments to Quality and Outcomes Framework payments, according to the British Medical Association.

Services in the region are currently being overseen by civil servants because of political paralysis.

The changes have occurred because average list sizes in the region have increased – after the closure of a number of practices.

Dr Tom Black, chair of the region’s British Medical Association GP committee, said affected practices might cut services to balance their books.

He said: “There are many practices that will lose more than £20,000 and the total loss to general practice will be £1 million.

“This is not profit for GPs, but money that is reinvested in their practices through employing staff, investing in premises and technology and meeting the financial overheads of running a practice.”

He added: “There may be other confounding factors related to prevalence and mergers but essentially this is a statistical quirk and the department have decided to take advantage of this by cutting GP funding and saving themselves £1 million.

“The same issue happened in England but their government moved rapidly to cover the gap, so the decision of our Department is not only astounding but is a kick in the teeth for GPs in Northern Ireland who are keeping a GP service afloat despite having the smallest workforce and the lowest funding.”