General practice in Northern Ireland is now in its “most difficult position ever,” a major summit has heard. Practices are having back contracts in the face of financial and staffing pressures and rising patient needs, the region’s conference of local medical committees heard. Dr Alan Stout, who has been chair of the British Medical Association’s…

Practices in Northern Ireland are being overwhelmed by patients “kept in the dark” about their place on the region’s record waiting lists, according to an official report. Many of those on the region’s lists do not even know whether they are on it – and do not know if their case is routine or urgent.…

Dozens of practices in Northern Ireland remain at risk amid a spate of closures, senior doctors have warned. So far this year partners at 16 practices have resigned from their contracts with the NI Department of Health – and the British Medical Association says another 30 practices are at risk. In some parts of the…

Practices in a district of Northern Ireland have issued a stark warning over the impact of a closure within their area. Six practices have warned the regional government that they also are “in crisis” and that general practice will be “destabilised” if they are expected to take patients from the practice that is closing in…

Practices in Northern Ireland are to get a package of support worth more than £5 million, it has been announced. The cash includes a £1 million allocation for a scheme to attract doctors to areas with recruitment problems together with £3 million to help practices through winter pressures, health minister Robin Swann said. There is…

A search is under way for the best practice in Northern Ireland. The Royal College of GPs in the region names a practice and a GP annually as the best of the year. It has now appealed to patients to make their nominations. Regional college chair Dr Laurence Dorman said: “The last couple of years…

GPs in Northern Ireland are pressing for primary care to get a huge increase in funding as voters go to the polls for regional elections. They have launched a “prescription for general practice” with a call for spending to increase from 8% of the health budget to 11% of the health budget. This would lead…