a minor surgery suite, a pharmacy, out-of-hours consultations and community healthcare partnerships, with the possibility of developing supported living accommodation for older people. In 2019 a £26,760,000 increase in funding for GPs was provided under the new contract. which is to support the recruitment of advanced nurse practitioners, practice-based pharmacists and other staff to support GPs. Pay parity In November 2019 Unison members began industrial action in Belfast City Hospital, Craigavon, Musgrave Park and Omagh Hospitals over unsafe staffing levels and the lack of pay parity with NHS staff in the rest of the UK. The Royal College of Nursing is also planning industrial action. Prescription charges On 29 September 2008, Michael McGimpsey, the then Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, announced that Prescription charges were to be phased out by April 2010, being first reduced to £3.00 in January 2009. This was widely accepted by the then four main parties of the Northern Ireland Executive plus the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. The move brought Northern Ireland in line with the Scottish and Welsh systems which had already abolished charges. Performance In Northern Ireland, health and social care have been part of the same structure since 1974; however, according to Terry Bamford, "integration has failed to address a reliance on hospitals and institutional care which is significantly greater than elsewhere in the UK." He says that there are various reasons for this. It is difficult to get resources out of acute care without closing buildings, which is a political problem particularly in rural areas. Information technology systems may not be compatible and patient confidentiality hinders the sharing of information. Health services are free but social care is means tested. But, he says, "the greatest difficulties lie in the different cultures and values of health and social care." Until 2014, the Kingsbridge Private Hospital in Belfast was used to reduce waiting lists for routine surgery. In September 2015 the Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Board admitted that waiting lists for surgery had grown and that they did not have the money to pay either NHS providers or the private sector to bring them down. The NHS waiting list target in Northern Ireland is 52 weeks, not 18 as in England, and it isn't met. 10% of healthcare provided in the region is paid for privately. A report by the Nuffield Trust in 2017 showed that though spending