To ask the Minister of Health whether he will (i) commit to ensuring all GP services provide a professional phone line or email for health care staff to enable and improve communications about patient care; and (ii) ensure such proactive communications are built in to future GP contracts.

GPs are independent contractors and, as such, are responsible both for making appropriate clinical decisions about patient care and for decisions about the day to day running of their Practice. This includes the use of telephony.

It is recognised that facilitating better communication and clarity of responsibility at the interface between primary and secondary care fosters strong, constructive working relationships and supports a more efficient use of staff time and medical resources, as demand for services continues to grow.

My Department has led engagement with primary and secondary care providers to help improve communication and collaborative working across the Primary and Secondary care interface.

A key output of this work has been the development of the ‘Working Better Together Consensus and Guidance on the Primary and Secondary Care Interface in Northern Ireland’. The guidance, which builds upon good practice that is already in place, provides a set of clinically led principles to guide how healthcare professionals should engage with each other across new and existing patient pathways and to promote good quality, patient-centred care.

The underlying intent of the guidance is to improve relationships and communication, remove unnecessary administrative burdens and bring about a more efficient system to improve patient flow, care and experience.

One of the key principals in the guidance is to facilitate easy, prompt communication between primary and secondary care professionals, including encouraging the sharing of administrative contact directories.