Following the introduction of the new UK wide General Medical Services (GMS) contract with effect from 1 April 2004, the contract for the provision of General Medical Services is between the relevant Health and Social Services Board and a GMS practice rather than individual GPs. Under the contract, each GMS practice receives payment for services and can generate income through a number of streams, some of which are core and some in which participation is a matter of choice for the practice concerned. It is a matter for each GMS practice to determine how its services are organised and how the funding it receives is allocated between GP remuneration and practice expenses, including the employment of staff and other overheads.
Information is collected across the four countries on health service funding for GP practices and on the expenses to earnings split, based on audited accounts. The final information for the first year of the contract, (2004-05) has not yet been agreed at a UK level nor has it been disaggregated on a country by country basis) Consequently, an accurate assessment of GP earnings in NI under the new contract is not yet available
The average annual earnings in Northern Ireland of a consultant psychiatrist is £100,300.