Written question WQ93543

The Welsh Government recognises the invaluable work done by GP practices in the face of increasing demand and rising costs.

General practices are contracted via health boards to provide general medical services and they are managed as independent businesses. The responsibility for their day-to-day running and financial management lies with the contractors. As is the case across the UK, some practices have made decisions to merge to serve a larger area and support larger patient numbers.

Health boards provide a range of support to their contractors, including support following a change in practice escalation status, or on receipt of a sustainability application.

Over the past three years, we have made significant investment in general practice as part of a wider contract reform programme, including £20m last year.

From 1 April 2022, capacity funding of £4m was made available recurrently for three years to practices via health boards. This scheme facilitates match funding of up to 50% for the cost of either additional posts on appointment or additional hours worked by existing post-holders, enabling GP practices to take on additional administrative and clinical resourcing with the aim of increasing GP capacity and improving patient outcomes.

And we are investing more than £5m a year in our partnership premium scheme, which provides an incentive for people to take up valued GP partner roles.

Sustainability of general practice is a priority and we will continue to work with the profession to develop strategic solutions to navigate the challenges facing GP services in Wales.