The BMA has warned the Welsh Government not to ‘forget the crucial role played by GPs’, after it announced a £28m investment into secondary care.
Welsh health secretary Jeremy Miles announced the investment to ‘help the NHS cut the longest waiting times’ in hospitals, including in specialties such as orthopaedics, ophthalmology, general surgery and gynaecology.
The funding will pay for ‘more evening and weekend appointments’ and regional working to target waiting times, and health boards will also free-up outpatient appointments for new patients to be seen by reducing the number of ‘automatic follow-ups’, the Welsh Government said.
But the BMA warned that the NHS in Wales will not work ‘effectively’ until there is ‘sufficient funding’ to appropriately pay GPs for their services, and condemned the fact that no part of this funding was directed towards general practice.
BMA’s Welsh Council chair Dr Iona Collins said: ‘In Wales approximately 90% of patient interaction with the NHS happens in primary care and yet just 6% of NHS funding is directed to general practice.
‘So, whilst we welcome this commitment to tackle the long waits that cause pain and suffering for patients, we must not forget the crucial role played by GPs.
‘Chronic and sustained underfunding has directly resulted in the closure of 100 surgeries since 2012. GPs are now seeing up to 35% more patients each.
‘Unsurprisingly, this is having a devastating impact on general practice, leading GPs to burn out, reduce their hours or leave.
‘NHS Wales will not perform effectively until general practice has sufficient funding to pay for the wide-ranging portfolio of services which GPs provide.
‘So, while we welcome this commitment to help those who wait the longest, we need to manage this in a meaningful way for patients and for the staff who deliver the initial and follow up treatment.’
Dr Collins also said that while it is a ‘significant’ investment, £28 million is a fraction of the £183 million health board deficit, which NHS Wales health boards reported for 2023/2024.
She added: ‘It will be interesting to see how this fits into wider NHS spending in Wales. At face value, providing weekend and evening appointments sounds like a workable solution, but we must see more detail about how this will be resourced in terms of bed availability and staffing; we already have serious concerns about our depleted workforce and lack of beds.
‘While the BMA anticipates fair remuneration for the doctors who work overtime to provide this additional work, we must also acknowledge that NHS staff are already over-stretched. NHS doctor burnout is at its highest ever rate.’
The Welsh Government declined to comment.
Last month, the Welsh Government accepted recommendations from the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) on GP pay in full, following several delays.
But BMA Wales GP committee chair Dr Gareth Oelmann said the pay rise ‘cannot be realised’ until negotiations for the 2024/25 GMS contract begin, which the Government ‘has delayed’.
And GPs in Wales are ‘actively evaluating all available options’ for dispute against the Government following the contract negotiation delays.
