Reversing GP funding crisis like turning supertanker, doctors warn

THE Welsh Government must be courageous and shift money from the "bottomless pit" of hospitals to reverse relative defunding of GP surgeries, doctors have told a Senedd inquiry.

- CHRIS HAINES ICNN Senedd reporter

Gareth Oelmann, chairman of the British Medical Association (BMA) Cymru's GP committee, criticised a decline of funding for general practice as a whole over many years.

Dr Oelmann, a GP partner in Cwmbran, Torfaen, said the proportion of NHS Wales spending dedicated to general practice has fallen from 8.7% to 6.01% since 2005/06.

He told the Senedd's health committee: "That decline has come at the detriment of practice viability, sustainability and you'll have seen the figures within the last 10 years of how 100 practices have returned their contracts."

The BMA is calling for the proportion of the NHS Wales budget spent in general practice to be restored to 8.7% within three years, which would require an investment of £292m.

Ian Harris, a GP partner in Bridgend who is deputy chairman of the BMA committee, said GPs can be part of the solution to pressures on hospital services.

"But, certainly, we can't do more with less," he stressed. "And, over the years, we've been asked to do more and more and more with a reduced proportion of the NHS spend."