To ask the Minister of Health for an update on plans for investment in support for General Practice to improve premises and better communicate with patients, particularly with regard to investment in equipment for remote consultations.

In terms of capital investment in GP premises, £2.2m was delivered in 2018/19 and £3.2m in 2019/20 with a further £5.3m allocated in 2020/21. A large part of the investment is for projects within Multi-disciplinary Team (MDT) areas (reflecting the inclusion of service integration, modernisation and reform as a key criteria for assessment of applications), but investment has also been provided in non-MDT roll-out areas.

All practices can apply to the Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) for capital grants to support development of their premises.

Many practices are too small to ensure adequate social distancing. In response to COVID-19, the HSCB has approved funding grants to support practices in relation to social distancing and infection control including:

Perspex screens to facilitate social distancing

Wall mounted sanitisers

Improved physical access to practice buildings by making the front door automated.

GP practices have also been supported to ensure that the appropriate telephony equipment is in place to provide patient services. In 2020/21, non-recurrent funding of £1.7millon was made available for practices to use towards purchasing new telephone systems and increasing the number of telephone lines into their surgery, with specific emphasis on making telephone lines available for staff in nursing homes, pharmacies and laboratory services in local Trust areas. At present, approximately 80% of GP Practices will be availing of this funding. In addition, during the 2020/21 financial year, £100k was approved for telephone upgrades.

In order to facilitate remote triage with online and video consultations, the HSCB and Business Services Organisation worked with representatives from the NI General Practitioners Committee on the introduction of two solutions (Zoom and AccuRx) to enable online and video consultations with patients. To support video consultations, webcams and headsets were made available to practices via an expression of interest and action was taken to enable access to Wi-Fi within GP practices. The HSCB provides practices with support and guidance on the use of telephone triage and video consultations with appropriate clinical governance.