Calls will be made in the Senedd this week for the Welsh Government to adopt recommendations outlined by BMA Cymru in a bid to solve Wales’ GP crisis.

Latest figures show that Wales has fallen from having 473 GP practices in 2012 to 374 as of December.

Warnings have been constant from mid Wales that a failure to attract GPs to the region has left surgeries under threat of closure.

BMA Cymru Wales’ ‘Save our Surgeries’ campaign is calling on the Welsh Government to ensure 11 per cent of NHS Wales funding is spent on general practice and to ensure Wales trains, recruits, and retains enough GPs to move towards the OECD average number of GPs per 1000 people.

In the Senedd on Wednesday, 15 May the Welsh Conservatives are bringing forward a Senedd motion calling on the Labour Government to adopt BMA Cymru Wales’ key campaign calls, and to ensure the full Barnett consequential arising from NHS spending by the UK Government is made available for the health service in Wales.

BMA Cymru said: “General practice is being forced to try and cope with inadequate resources, an unsustainable workload, and a workforce under pressure across the whole of Wales, with some areas in crisis.

“Burnout and attrition are impacting upon the profession and exacerbating these issues.

“Much of the ongoing commentary related to General Practice revolves around access. However, access is merely a symptom of the real issue, which is capacity.

“Current inadequate capacity in the face of unrelenting demand is a product of longstanding workload, workforce, and well-being issues, which correlate to the chronic underfunding of general medical services.

“Our Save Our Surgeries campaign asks Welsh Government to commit to a rescue package for General Practice, to provide GPs and their patients with the support they need.”

Commenting ahead of the debate, Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Minister, Sam Rowlands MS, said: “GPs surgeries are vital in supporting patients and alleviating pressures on Welsh hospitals.

“It is deeply concerning that if urgent action isn’t taken, Wales will see its 100th GP practice closure in just over a decade.”