SAM ROWLANDS Rowlands, Member of the Welsh Parliament for North Wales, has called on the Welsh Government to commit to more funding for GPs.
Mr Rowlands, Shadow Health Minister, made the call during a debate in the Senedd on a petition calling for ‘Fair and Adequate Resourcing of General Practice in Wales’.
The petition was created by Lewis Williams of the British Medical Association as part of their campaign, ‘Save our Surgeries’ and collected 21,620 signatures.
Mr Rowlands. A harsh critic of the demise of the number of GPs in Wales said: “I think the significance of this petition is shown through the number of people who signed it, over 21,000. It’s clear that people across the country also feel that general practice is underfunded and is forced to cope with resources that are inadequate and a workload that is frankly unsustainable.
“As it stands, we know that 8% of NHS Wales funding goes towards GPs and GP practice, a percentage that is actually lower than levels from 2005-06, which I think probably reflects a little bit of the value in which GPs are perhaps held at from Welsh Government at the moment. If they were properly valued and understood, then there would be resources to match that.
“The reason why we’ve seen over 100 surgeries in Wales shut down in the last 12 years, with no real sign of reversal, is exactly because of the funding not matching the pressures that they are under. And that’s really impacting people across Wales, in particular in rural Wales.
“The Welsh Conservatives led a debate based on the BMA Wales Save Our Surgeries campaign in the last couple of months and I echo again the calls that we made in that debate, including asking for the Welsh Government to ensure there is a clear workforce strategy to ensure that we do train, recruit and retain enough GPs for the long term.
“We know that they have a core role in improving the well-being of citizens, and, importantly, preventing ill health. and prevention is so much better than cure. Get it right in the first place at a primary care level in our communities, that’s exactly the right solution.
“I repeat calls for the Welsh Government to commit more funding to GPs to deliver the sustainable services that we all want to see in our communities.”
Jeremy Miles, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care said the BMA Cymru campaign ‘Save our Surgeries’ and the petition highlighted some very concerning aspects of working in this area. He reassured GPs that they had heard the messages about the huge demands and the pressure on staff welfare, and were taking steps to address these issues.
Mr Rowlands added: “While I appreciate the Cabinet Secretary’s comments I would just like to remind him that Labour Senedd Members recently rejected our calls to improve GP access by adopting BMA Cymru Wales’ key campaign calls and ensuring that every penny arising from the UK Government’s health spending is made available for our Welsh NHS.
“There is clearly much more to be done to safeguard the future of our GPs. Their role continues to grow as more people are encouraged to use their services instead of going to A&E departments. However, there does need to be enough GPs to cope with this demand.”
