GP services investment is ‘truly transformational’

Date published: 6 March 2025

The £61m 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 John O’Dowd, as part of a £129m 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 John O’Dowd, deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly,  Secretary of State Hilary Benn and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Fleur Anderson 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 provincewide 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.