It comes after the UK Government ordered that all GPs in England must offer online bookings throughout the day. The move does not currently apply to GPs in Northern Ireland.

The North Belfast MLA said: “Over recent months, we have seen a breakdown in the relationship between the Department of Health and GPs, meanwhile the public continue to struggle every day to access the primary care services they need.

“The UK Government has taken decisive action to ensure patients can access their GP but, yet again, Northern Ireland is being left behind while the Health Minister publishes vague Reset Plans which do little to provide reassurance to the public that services on the ground will improve.

“Most importantly, GPs in England are receiving an extra £1.1billion to support the implementation of online booking, yet local GP practices received just £1million additional funding to resolve access issues.

“Online booking is not a silver bullet. There will be issues depending on how far in advance people can book, or the potential for elderly people or those not used to digital services to be disadvantaged. However, the presentation of any kind of solution is welcome.

“If the Minister is serious about improving public access to GP services, he needs to tackle and fix the problems through meaningful reform based on the Bengoa principles, instead of running a department which has no clear priorities or way forward to deal with the crisis in our health service.”