A newly announced £61million investment will help stabilise GP
services and advance health service reform, Health Minister
has stated.
The £61million will secure the expansion of the Primary Care
Multi-Disciplinary Teams MDT Programme to five new areas: North
Belfast, the South-West (Fermanagh/ West Tyrone), East Antrim,
Craigavon and Dungannon/Armagh.
It was announced yesterday by Finance Minister , as part of a £129million
allocation of Executive transformation funding.
The MDT Programme is a partnership between GP Federations and HSC
Trusts. It introduces new physiotherapy, social work and mental
health roles into general practice to work alongside the existing
practice team. It aims to help shift the health service from
treating illness to supporting good physical and mental health
and social wellbeing.
The Health Minister joined with the Finance Minister , deputy First Minister , Secretary of State
and Parliamentary
Under-Secretary of State to visit Eden Park Medical
Practice in North Belfast, one of the areas which will benefit
from the MDT expansion. The visit was hosted by the North Belfast
GP Federation.
“The visit provided an opportunity to see improvement
works that have been carried out and to hear first-hand about the
difference that the rollout of MDTs will make to practices in
North Belfast,” Mr Nesbitt said.
“This is a truly transformational investment. I am
determined to secure a decisive shift left in our health service,
with more resources directed to primary care. By helping people
stay well and manage health conditions, this can reduce reliance
on hospital care. Shifting left is also central to my objective
of addressing health inequalities.
“I am also very mindful of the ongoing pressures on GP
practices. Feedback from senior GPs in existing MDT areas
indicates that the Programme can make a major contribution to
stabilising GP services.”
The MDT programme currently reaches seven GP Federation areas,
with some 368 whole time equivalent front line staff working in
MDT teams across 117 GP practices. These teams are providing
vital additional capacity in general practice settings, reducing
both the need for patients to first see a GP and referrals into
hospital care.
During 2023/24, MDTs provided an additional 301,000 consultations
in GP settings and more than 10,000 patients benefited from over
260 innovative targeted community initiatives delivered alongside
Community and Voluntary Sector colleagues.
Full province wide rollout of the programme will be taken forward
in a two-phase approach over the next seven to eight years. The
first of these phases will be supported by the £61m of
Transformation funding over the four-year period to the end of
2028/29. This will enable completion of the model in the seven
existing MDT areas, and expansion into the five new GP Federation
areas with a population of around 670,000 people. Work is ongoing
with the Trusts and GP Federations to agree delivery plans in
each of the five areas.
The second phase is anticipated to run for a further three to
four years from 2029/30 and would see the MDT programme completed
in the remaining five GP Federation areas. Under this approach,
all GP Federation areas in Northern Ireland would see MDT
implementation commence within the next five years.
