To ask the Minister of Health to provide an update on GP indemnity arrangements.

Mr Nesbitt

I recognise that arrangements for clinical negligence indemnity are a matter of concern for GPs locally. My Department has been exploring options for a long-term future for GP indemnity. I recognise that progress in that work has taken longer than expected. However, in fairness, that reflects the complexity of the issue. I had committed to the work concluding with proposals for a long-term solution by the end of the 2024 calendar year. I am pleased to advise that, after careful consideration of a wide range of options, I have identified what is, I believe, the best, most appropriate option to address this key issue for the longer term. As part of the 2025-26 contract negotiations, my Department met the Northern Ireland General Practitioners Committee. We have provided details of the long-term proposal. I am hopeful that we will be able to reach agreement on that important matter soon. I am aware that representatives of that committee have briefed the Health Committee on the indemnity offer. As that is still the subject of an ongoing negotiation, it would not be appropriate to comment on the detail of those discussions.

Mr Nesbitt

It is my understanding that we are negotiating with practices rather than with individual GPs. I want to be careful in what I say, because we are not over the line, and it is an issue that, in my assessment, has become quite toxic over the past number of years and is affecting the relationship between the Department and primary care. There are other issues in primary care that we want primary care to address. The primary one is access. I am sure that every Member of the House, as a constituency MLA, has constituents coming to them weekly, if not daily, with issues to do with accessing their GPs. With respect to the Member, I do not want to go any further, because those negotiations are not over the line, and, in my mind, the question of indemnity may open up another discussion about access to primary care.

Mr McGuigan

I take on board the Minister's caution, given that negotiations are ongoing. He mentioned opening up access in the final part of his answer to Mr Tennyson. Does the Minister agree that resolving the indemnity issue would have a very positive impact on opening up and providing greater access to GP services?

Mr Nesbitt

That is exactly the point that I am trying to make. If we can deal with the, as I describe it, fairly toxic issue of GP indemnity and put a long-term solution in place, it gives me, I think, permission, as it were, to go back and ask, "Can we now look at an issue that is very toxic for me and for Members of the House, which is constituents finding it difficult to get access to their GP?".

Mr Chambers

Minister, I very much welcome the fact that an offer and a longer-term potential solution have been identified. If agreed, I hope that those will allow an even greater focus on how primary care can undoubtedly assist with the Minister's shift-left agenda. Does the Minister agree that primary care has the potential to play an even greater role in addressing some of the many elective challenges that are being faced within secondary care?

Mr Nesbitt

I have made it clear that my ambition is to rebalance how HSC services are delivered to facilitate a greater proportion of care being provided by primary care, community care and social care to get it as close to people's homes as possible to relieve some of the pressure on secondary care. That will require a combination of investment in the core general medical services contract through the GP contract and in the wider primary care services and workforce. When I first talked about shifting left, there was concern, particularly among doctors and people who work in primary care, that I would be asking them to do more for the same amount of money. That is not the case. I recognise that if we are going to ask them to do more, we will have to pay and commission them to do so. The challenge is how to get away from the pressures on our acute hospitals outright because that is where all the really expensive procedures take place. Therefore, if you can focus on prevention and early intervention, maybe you will relieve a bit of the pressure on the acute hospitals and release some cash, which can be put into primary care.