Welsh Government will not increase GP funding until hospital waiting lists are ‘brought down’

The Welsh Government will not increase the share of NHS funding spent on general practice until hospital waiting lists are ‘brought down’, the country’s top politician has said.

At an event in Newport last week, First Minister Eluned Morgan was asked whether the Government will increase the percentage of NHS spend on primary care to 8.7%, as the BMA has demanded in order to restore the figure to 2005/6 levels. 

Ms Morgan told the South Wales Argus that she would not commit to this until she is ‘more confident we are in a space where we have brought the waiting lists down’.

The BMA has previously highlighted that ‘just 6%’ of NHS funding is directed to general practice, despite 90% of patient interactions with the NHS occurring in primary care, and called for the share to be increased to 8.7% as part of a wider campaign to save Welsh surgeries.

The First Minister said: ‘It may look like we are spending less on GPs and we are not, we are spending more on GPs than we ever have before.

‘It’s just that after Covid there was a build up in relation to people on waiting lists. So although the percentage has shifted the amount of money is more than it’s ever been before.’

Last month, Welsh GP leaders accepted a revised contract offer from the Government for 2024/25, which included a £23m ‘practice stabilisation payment’, after months of delay to contract negotiations. 

The BMA said this offer – which totaled £52.1m of additional investment – was a ‘direct response’ from the Government to the results of a recent referendum which saw almost 99% of Welsh GPs reject a previous offer.

Following the First Minister’s comments about waiting lists last week, a Welsh Government spokesperson told Pulse: ‘We recognise the pressures and increased costs facing general practice, including the high demand for GP services and will be investing £52.1m this year, the single biggest annual investment in General Medical Services since the pandemic.’

They also said the Government has invested an additional £50m to support health boards to continue to reduce long waits and more than £600m in extra revenue and capital funding has been allocated for health and social care in the draft budget.

BMA’s GP Committee Wales chair Dr Gareth Oelmann said that over 100 surgeries have already closed their doors over the last 12 years, and it is therefore ‘crucial that necessary investment in general practice is not delayed’.

He continued: ‘Reversing the chronic underfunding of general practice by restoring the previous 8.7% of the total Welsh NHS budget will save general practice from its current perilous state and eventually allow general practice to further restore its role in prevention, in line with the aspirations of A Healthier Wales. 

‘Without the appropriate funds to run the service effectively, I’m afraid we will continue on the current trajectory of practices being forced to close their doors and GPs burning out or opting out.’

The First Minister’s visit last week took place in the county of Gwent, where there have been ongoing issues with practices managed by the GP-led company eHarley Street.

Over recent weeks, the GP partnership has handed back five of eight GP practice contracts following ‘financial challenges’.

Councillors in the Blaenau Gwent area have put forward a motion for their upcoming council meeting this week which ‘calls for an independent inquiry’ into the ‘scandal’ of eHarley Street’s involvement in local GP practices.

The motion argues that ‘questions remain about the award and management’ of the GP contracts, and also ‘urges’ health minister Jeremy Miles to ‘commission an urgent review in the GP Contract in Wales’. 

It said: ‘The scandal of E Harley Street’s involvement in primary care in Blaenau Gwent and beyond reveals how patients, staff, nurses and doctors have been badly let down. 

‘The non-payment of staff, tax and pensions contributions and suppliers has had a severe and detrimental impact on local primary care.’