BMA Cymru Wales’ GP committee has voted unanimously to reject the Welsh Government’s offer for the 2024/2025 GMS (General Medical services) contract, as it “fails to provide a credible and sustainable future for general practice.”

GPs in Wales will now vote on whether to accept or reject the contract in a referendum which will open later this month.*

Dr Gareth Oelmann, chair of the BMA’s Welsh GP committee said: “The decision to disregard the serious concerns and valuable contribution of general practice once again in Wales is beyond insulting, it is dangerous, leaving more surgeries and their patients in peril.

“We are deeply concerned that this offer will leave more practices with no option but to close their doors.

“GP practices are being denied the resources they need to deliver vital services to the population.

“For years, the service has been starved of adequate funding which has led to the closure of 100 surgeries since 2012. This is having a devastating impact on general practice.

“A recent survey of our members showed that 91 per cent of GPs are routinely unable to meet patient demand due to unsustainably high workloads.

“With 100 fewer surgeries for patients to turn to, GPs are now seeing up to 35 per cent more patients each, causing unsustainably high workloads and burnout with doctors being expected to do more with less, risking patient safety.

“How long can this continue?

“General Practice is the foundation of a high-quality, cost-effective health system, but successive governments have insisted on ignoring the vital role general practice plays in the national health service.

“Welsh Government had an opportunity to change the current trajectory but has failed to do so.

“It is now up to GPs to decide what happens next.”

BMA Cymru Wales’ ‘Save our Surgeries’ campaign is calling on the Welsh Government to ensure 11 per cent of NHS Wales funding is spent on general practice and to ensure Wales trains, recruits, and retains enough GPs.

Latest figures show that Wales has fallen from having 473 GP practices in 2012 to 374 as of December 2023