GP practices are absolutely fundamental to the delivery of health services but as the recent debate over telephone access has highlighted, they are facing extreme pressures.
The reality is that primary care was already in crisis before the pandemic struck, with a shortage of GPs and an overstretched and underfunded system.
That grim situation has been exacerbated by the Covid emergency with doctors and staff left 'exhausted and demoralised', according to the chair of the Royal College of GPs in Northern Ireland.
Dr Laurence Dorman said it is distressing for doctors that many patients are struggling to access services but they are 'genuinely overwhelmed and cannot meet this current demand.'
He points out that general practice provides 95 per cent of care a patient will need across their lifetime, but receives only approximately 8 per cent of government funding.
We know that if patients cannot access their GP, many will end up going to hospital emergency departments which are also under enormous strain, causing knock-on problems for the wider health service.
As we are seeing on an almost daily basis, our health service is in a parlous state and requires urgent, decisive and far-reaching reform.
It is long overdue and must be a priority of the next Stormont Executive.
