North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has urged the Welsh Government to stop denying there is a GP crisis facing North Wales and instead take action to address it.
Speaking in the Assembly Chamber this week, he called for the Deputy Health Minister to respond to a letter sent to the First Minister accusing him of being out of touch with the challenges facing GPs in North Wales.
A leading Doctor warned last September that more than half of GP surgeries in North Wales are at risk of closing in the next 12 months.
Mr Isherwood said:
“Clearly, GPs are self-employed contractors, but Health Boards and Governments are responsible for the strategic manpower, or person power, planning for them. And it’s years since the Royal College of General Practitioners warned of the ticking time bomb, years since BMA Cymru said that commitments made by the Welsh Government haven’t happened in the way intended, and 21 months since the Chair of the North Wales Medical Committee came to this Assembly to say we had a crisis in North Wales. How, therefore, do you respond to the letter sent to the First Minister by groups representing GPs in North Wales, accusing him of being out of touch with the reality of the challenges facing GPs in North Wales?”
The Deputy Minister for Health, Vaughan Gething AM, replied: “We recognise there are very real challenges across particular parts of healthcare not just within Wales, but across the UK. We’ll continue to work with people within the medical profession in planning and delivering on a secure future for the National Health Service.”
Mr Isherwood added: “At a BMA Cymru briefing in the Assembly in June 2014, the Chair of the North Wales Local Medical Committee said “General Practivce in North Wales is in crisis, several practices have been unable to fill vacancies and many GPs are seriously considering retirement because of the currently expanding work load.”
“At the BMA Wales Conference last weekend, Labour First Minister Carwyn Jones claimed that there was no GP recruitment crisis, the same weekend that another North Wales GP surgery, Pen-y-Maes Health Centre in Summerhill, Wrexham, gave notice that they will be terminating their contract with the Health Board.
“A move from denial to action is long overdue.”