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GPs accept improved Welsh government pay offer

Jenny Rees
Health correspondent, BBC Wales News
PA Media A person is having their blood pressure taken. They are wearing a cuff on their right arm and a doctor is holding the stethoscope against their arm. The shot is a close-up and faces are not visible.PA Media
The new contract improves pay for all staff at GP practices but also includes changes to improve patient care.

The body representing GPs in Wales has accepted an improved pay deal from the Welsh government.

BMA Cymru Wales members voted to reject the original proposal in December, but said they had received a "significantly improved offer".

The revised figure brings it up to the 6% pay rise recommended by the doctors and dentists pay review body.

The Welsh government said the same increase would also be offered to all practice staff.

A one-off, additional payment of £23m "practice stabilisation payment" has been included.

A review of standards will also be carried out to reduce the bottleneck of patient calls at the start of the day.

As most GP practices are owned and operated by GP partners, similar to a small business, they are contracted to provide services on behalf of the NHS.

The BMA in Wales has campaigned for some time to increase funding for general practice as it claims there is insufficient capacity to meet the demand for services.

"We acknowledge that this settlement does not resolve every issue," said Dr Gareth Oelmann, chair of the BMA's Welsh GP committee.

"We have reservations about non-recurrent funding given the awareness of upcoming unavoidable costs from the start of the financial year.

"Nevertheless, it provides a solid foundation we can build upon in the next round of negotiations for the 2025-26 contract. We have assurances from the Welsh government that this will take place as early as possible."

The health secretary, Jeremy Miles, said talks would continue to "explore potential solutions to sustainability issues through different service models, which will also support our shared aim of delivering more care closer to home including diagnostics".

As part of negotiations, the annual health check for patients with learning disabilities will also be offered by every GP practice.

Take up of these checks fell after the pandemic.

The new contract also has a focus on improving the patient data that is gathered.

GPs will need to "proactively identify and record people who are living with severe or moderate frailty" as well as collect and record patient ethnicity data.

Research by charity Tenovus had previously shown large variation in compliance with capturing ethnicity data, but was generally poor across the board in Wales.