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GPs in Wales have voted to accept a revised contract offer from the Welsh Government for this financial year.

Under the independent contractor model, GPs are self-employed and have responsibility for running the surgery and providing primary care under an NHS General Medical Services contract.

In Wales, this contract is negotiated routinely every year by the doctors’ union, the British Medical Association, and Welsh Government, through the union’s Welsh GP Committee.

The committee voted to reject the contract for 2024/25 in November last year, with a promise to consult its members with a referendum. Of 1,093 GPs and GP registrars taking part, 98.7% voted against the contract in December.

This time around, the BMA said its GP committee was presented with a “significantly improved” offer from the Welsh Government, marking a positive turn in the contract negotiations.

The union claimed this was a direct response to the “overwhelming” contract referendum result of December, which also saw a record number of GPs in Wales join the BMA.

What’s the deal?

The BMA had asked the Welsh Government for £10.8m to invest in GP pay, £27.2m for staff pay and an additional £8.9m to cover ‘unavoidable’ practice costs.

The Welsh Government was prepared to put forward £10m for doctor pay, £12.1m for staff and £1.8m for costs.

What’s been agreed is £10.6m for doctor pay, £12.7m for staff, and £1.8m for practice costs. However, the Welsh Government has agreed a one-off “practice stabilisation” payment of £23m.

The reaction

Dr Gareth Oelmann, chair of the BMA’s Welsh GP committee said: “We are pleased that the Welsh Government swiftly grasped the strength of feeling amongst the profession and took decisive action by providing a credible offer which we hope will provide GPs with much-needed resources to deliver vital care to patients.

“We acknowledge that this settlement does not resolve every issue, and we have reservations about non-recurrent funding given the awareness of upcoming unavoidable costs from the start of the financial year.

“Nevertheless, it provides a solid foundation we can build upon in the next round of negotiations for the 25/26 contract; we have assurances from the Welsh Government that this will take place as early as possible.”

Welsh health secretary Jeremy Miles MS said the new contract would see the Welsh Government invest a total of £52.1m into general practice this year and thanked the BMA and NHS Wales for its work.

He said: “The agreement also sees progress in a number of other areas to drive improvements in general practice for the benefit of the public, GPs, and the wider health and care system.

“To continue to build on improvement in access to GP services, we have agreed to an immediate review to strengthen compliance with the GMS Access Standards around the 8am bottleneck and pre-bookable appointments.

“The NHS Wales App will make it easier for people to access care, advice, book appointments and gain information from their GP. As a result of this year’s contract agreement, people will be able to order repeat prescriptions and increasingly request appointments through the app. People who need support with the initial identity verification process to register for the app will be able to access this through their local GP practice.”