The Welsh Government today has this week accepted recommendations from the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) on GP pay in full, following several delays.
At the end of July, the DDRB recommended a 6% pay increase for GPs in all of the four nations, including salaried and contractor GPs.
But BMA Cymru Wales GP committee chair Dr Gareth Oelmann said the pay rise ‘cannot be realised’ until negotiations for the 2024/25 GMS contract begin, which the Welsh Government ‘has delayed’.
Welsh GPs are ‘actively evaluating all available options’ for dispute against the Government following the contract negotiation delays.
Contract negotiations for 2023/24 were also delayed and ended without agreement in February, as practices received a 4.4% funding uplift backdated to April 2023, which the GPC said was ‘sub-inflationary’ and ‘inadequate’.
Dr Oelmann said: ‘It is encouraging to see Welsh Government’s acceptance of the DDRB’s above inflation pay recommendation, unlike the previous year.
‘Whilst we welcome this move for salaried and contractor GPs it cannot be realised until we begin the negotiations for the GMS contract for the 24/25 financial year, which Welsh Government has delayed.
‘Despite the fairer settlements reached for doctors working in secondary care for 2023/24, we have a long way to go to fix GP pay and resource restoration into general practice.
‘This pay award will not wholly address those long-standing issues. For far too long general practice has been taken for granted.’
He highlighted that since 2012, 100 surgeries have had to close their doors because funding ‘has not fairly matched rising costs’ to keep practices running.
He added: ‘As was recognised by the DDRB in their report, recent uplifts to the value of the GP contract haven’t been sufficient in terms of expenses to realise the recommendations on GP pay.
‘We have called on the Welsh Government to urgently address the crisis in general practice by securing a mandate to allow for GMS contract negotiations to start without any further delays.
‘GMS practices have already had to absorb super-inflationary wage costs arising from statutory minimum wage increases, and their financial situation is precarious.
‘We have already informed the First Minister that we are actively evaluating all options in the event of a dispute.’
Welsh health secretary Mark Drakeford said that his officials will engage in negotiations with representative bodies on the proposed uplift for this year ‘as part of wider contract reform mandates in line with the Government’s agenda’.
He said: ‘The recommended 6% pay uplift for contracted GPs and dentists is subject to overall contract changes for general medical services (GMS) and general dental services.
‘While falling outside the scope of DDRB recommendations, I want to see a fair and proportionate pay uplift across primary care, including community pharmacies, NHS optometry and all staff working in general practice and dental teams.
‘This is in recognition of the vital role primary care, and its staff, plays in delivering essential services to people throughout Wales.
‘My officials will engage in negotiations with representative bodies on the proposed uplift for this year as part of wider contract reform mandates in line with the Government’s agenda.’
GPC Wales has been given a mandate to ‘urgently consider’ industrial action across general practice, as the Welsh LMCs conference passed a motion that ‘deplored the failure of the Welsh Government’ to negotiate a contract for 2023/24.
Last summer, GPC Wales launched its Save Our Surgeries campaign which called for an ‘urgent rescue package’ from the Welsh Government to save general practice from collapsing, and a BMA petition calling for the rescue package has now received over 21,500 signatures.
GPs in Scotland and Northern Ireland are still awaiting news on how their pay uplift will be awarded, while in England the global sum has been increased by 7.4%.
A version of this story was first published on our sister title Pulse
