Stop Press! Stormont Minister Does Something Right. Health Minister rules out hybrid General Practitioners Model
20th November, 2025
Back in 2008, when Health Minister Michael McGimpsey announced his intention to make all prescriptions free of charge, the Workers Party welcomed this progressive move as a policy that would bring tangible benefits to working class families. Once again we find ourselves in agreement with a UUP Health Minister.
The Workers Party welcomes the announcement from the Health Minister that he would not agree to a hybrid GP model. Patients here have already paid for their healthcare through their National Insurance contributions and through income taxes. It’s a betrayal of the founding principles of the NHS.
This debate is not a new one: in recent years as there have been GPs who have been keen to adopt the same healthcare system as the Republic of Ireland, where patients have to pay between 45-60 Euros to see their general practitioner.
Some GPs have gone as far as to claim that the Republic has a better healthcare system and staff are paid more and have less work. These assertions are not universally accepted and, contrary to the claims of privatisation apologists, there is widespread discontent with the health system among political parties and patients in the South.
GPs seem to have forgotten that patients in Northern Ireland have paid for their healthcare through their National Insurance Contributions and income taxes. It is a major disappointment that some doctors are considering these approaches, given the cost of living crisis, and that most working class people are already struggling to make ends meet.
GPs are aware of the areas of poverty, multiple deprivations, health inequalities, and the low wage economy, and how all these factors can lead to premature deaths. To introduce a two-tier system would be another slap in the face for working class people in need of healthcare.
The Workers Party notes that the Minister has said he cannot stop GPs going private as they are independent contractors. It is the view of this Party that all GPs should be employed directly by the health service. This could solve some of the contract issues, and would be widely supported, by patients.
While we understand that not all GPs want a two-tier system, the continued push by some is causing considerable anxiety and stress for patients who rely on the NHS.
Chancellor needs to 'hold her nerve' over Scrapping the Two-Child Benefits Cap
With the Employment Rights Bill going through its final stages in parliament, we hope the government will hold its nerve and not accept negative amendments proposed by assorted Tories and LibDems. The Chancellor needs to hold her nerve in relation to removing the Two-Child Benefits Cap, which traps millions of children in poverty and which if continued will, according to the Resolution Foundation, result in 4.8 million children living in poverty by the end of the decade.
There are concerns that a cut in benefits would drive more people into insecure jobs, like the gig economy that employers use as loopholes to avoid paying proper terms and conditions of service.
There are currently 1.2 million workers on zero-hour contracts. which will become illegal under the Bill if it goes through its final passages without any tory-inspired amendments. While there have been many attempts to introduce loopholes into the Bill it is hoped the government will hold its nerve and give workers and their families the rights to work and live with dignity
Workers produce the profits in our economic system, yet they never get to enjoy the profits of their labour.
The Workers Party believes the workers should own the means of production, but until we can establish a socialist system of government, we will fight tooth and nail to ensure that the working class are freed from poverty and all of the conditions caused by indifference and neglect.
It is a citizen’s right to have work, food, shelter, healthcare, education, and to enjoy family life and leisure.
Poverty, undermines or destroys all these rights.