Investment in Northern Ireland’s general practice services reached £435.055 million in 2025-26, representing a 5.55 per cent increase on the previous year, according to new figures published by the Department of Health. However, when inflation is taken into account, the real-terms rise shrinks to just 2.04 per cent—raising questions about whether funding is keeping pace with growing patient demand and workforce pressures.
The seventh annual publication of these statistics marks the continuation of a Northern Ireland-specific data series, after UK-wide comparisons were discontinued due to diverging contractual arrangements across the four nations. The figures include reimbursement for drugs dispensed in GP practices as well as direct investment in services.
How the 2025-26 investment breaks down
The Department of Health highlighted several key components of this year’s funding settlement:
- Total investment: £435.055 million (up from £412.168 million in 2024-25)
- Nominal increase: 5.55 per cent
- Real-terms increase: 2.04 per cent (after accounting for inflation)
- GP pay uplift: 4.0 per cent, following the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) recommendation
- Practice staff expenses uplift: 4.0 per cent
- Other expenses uplift: 4.1 per cent
- Total investment in these uplifts: £11.717 million
The Department noted that higher investment levels during 2020-21 and 2021-22 reflected the exceptional role general practice played in the Covid-19 pandemic response, including vaccination programmes and remote consultations.
What the Department says
The press release did not include direct quotes from ministers or officials. However, the Department’s presentation emphasised the year-on-year increase in nominal terms, noting this as continued support for primary care services.
The publication follows the DDRB’s 2025 report, which recommended pay uplifts for doctors and dentists across the UK. The Department confirmed that Northern Ireland applied the 4.0 per cent GP pay uplift recommended by the independent review body.
The gap between nominal and real-terms growth
While a 5.55 per cent funding increase sounds substantial, the much smaller 2.04 per cent real-terms rise indicates that inflation is eroding much of the additional investment. This gap—more than three and a half percentage points—means that practices face higher costs for supplies, utilities, and other expenses without corresponding funding growth.
According to the BMA, general practice receives only around 5 per cent of the overall health budget despite handling enormous workloads. In 2025, GP partners voted overwhelmingly for collective action over funding concerns, with 98.7 per cent of those balloted supporting action to secure what they termed a “stable and sustainable” service.
In July 2025, Dr Frances O’Hagan, BMA NI GP committee chair, said: “We have been warning for well over a decade now that general practice was not being funded to meet the needs of growing patient lists and that failure to act on this would have consequences on patient care.”
Missing context: workforce and patient demand
The Department’s statistics do not include several metrics that would help assess whether funding is adequate:
- GP workforce numbers: No data on full-time equivalent GPs, GP partners, or salaried doctors
- Patient population: No figures on registered patients or list sizes per practice
- Practice numbers: No information on how many practices share this funding
- Consultation volumes: No data on patient contacts or appointment availability
- Access metrics: No information on waiting times for appointments
The Northern Ireland Audit Office reported in 2024 that per capita GP funding had fallen slightly from £188 to £185 between 2021-22 and 2022-23—the first reduction since 2007-08. In December 2025, the Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee described the primary care sector as “in crisis,” noting the absence of a specific GP workforce strategy.
No UK comparisons possible
The Department noted that NHS Digital—now merged into NHS England following its legal merger on 1 February 2023—previously published UK-wide general practice investment data. This series has been discontinued because contractual changes in each nation have made figures “no longer comparable.”
This leaves patients, practitioners, and policymakers without a straightforward way to assess whether Northern Ireland’s investment levels are keeping pace with England, Scotland, and Wales. The Department’s own historical data shows that investment in 2025-26, while higher than pre-pandemic levels, has not returned to the peak seen during 2021-22 when Covid-19 response funding was at its height.
Questions this raises
- With real-terms growth of just 2.04 per cent, is funding sufficient to cover rising practice costs and maintain service quality?
- Why does the Department not publish workforce or patient population data alongside investment figures to enable meaningful per-capita analysis?
- Given the BMA’s concerns about general practice receiving only 5 per cent of the health budget, what proportion does the 2025-26 investment represent?
- How does Northern Ireland’s GP funding trajectory compare with other UK nations now that direct comparisons are no longer published?
- What measures are in place to assess whether this investment is improving patient access to GP services?
What to watch for
The Department has committed to continuing this annual publication series, which provides transparency about overall investment levels. However, readers seeking to understand whether funding matches need will need to look elsewhere for workforce data and patient experience metrics.
The BMA has indicated that negotiations for the 2026-27 contract remain unresolved, with the organisation stating that promised additional funding “hasn’t been delivered.” The Department, meanwhile, says it remains open to discussions on “securing the future of general practice.”
With health budgets across Northern Ireland under severe pressure—the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council warned in February 2026 that departments face “difficult fiscal choices”—the trajectory of GP investment in coming years will merit close attention.