GP practices in Wales have been urged to pass on a 6% pay rise for practice nurses ‘as soon as possible’ following funding arrangements announced by the Welsh Government.
It was confirmed on Friday that the government would be investing £52.1m into general practice in Wales, including £12.7m to realise the recommended 6% uplift for all practice staff and salaried GPs for 2024/25. The agreement will be backdated to 1 April 2024.
Cabinet secretary for health and social care Jeremy Miles said this was the result of ‘successful’ negotiations with the British Medical Association’s General Practice Committee in Wales (GPC Wales) over the 2024-25 General Medical Services (GMS) contract.
Nicky Hughes, associate director nursing of RCN Wales (employment relations), said the college welcomed ‘the commitment to a 6% pay uplift for general practice staff’.
‘We urge all general practice employers in Wales to pass this increase on to their nursing staff as soon as possible, ensuring they receive fair pay in line with the funding allocated for 2024/2025,’ she added.
‘This uplift is a vital step towards valuing and retaining the nursing workforce in primary care.’
The 6% uplift for employed practice staff in England and Wales had been recommended by the doctors and dentists pay review body last summer.
An exclusive Nursing in Practice survey revealed last autumn that half of general practice nursing staff across the UK had not yet received a pay rise for 2024/25.
The GP contract negotiations for the current financial year had encountered several delays in Wales and GPs had said previously they were ‘actively evaluating all available options’ for dispute against the government due to the delays.
The contract now agreed includes:
- £12.7m to realise the recommended 6% uplift for all practice staff and salaried GPs
- £10.6m to realise the recommended 6% pay uplift for GP partners
- A one-off £23 million ‘practice stabilisation payment’
- A further £1.8m ‘to support practices with ongoing business expenses’
- £4m of additional capacity fund investment in 2024/25 with a commitment to continue at the same level for 2025/26.
Cabinet secretary for health and social care Mr Miles said: ‘The Welsh Government recognises the pressures and increased costs facing general practice, including the high demand for GP services, with practices delivering 1.6m appointments every month – this reflects the trust and value the public have in general practice.
‘To support GPs, I am making an additional £23m available in 2024-25 as a one-off practice stabilisation payment.
‘The Welsh Government, NHS Wales and GPC Wales have agreed to continue to work together, in social partnership, to explore potential solutions to these sustainability issues through different service models, which will also support our shared aim of delivering more care closer to home including diagnostics.’
The BMA said that the Welsh GP committee (GPC) was presented with ‘a significantly improved offer’ from the Welsh Government, marking ‘a positive turn’ in the contract negotiations.
The union added that this new offer was a ‘direct response’ from the government to the results of a referendum last month, which saw almost 99% of Welsh GPs voting in favour of rejecting a previous contract offer.
GPC Wales has said that the 6% staff uplift should be applied after any statutory increase in National Minimum or Living Wage has been added.
It said in guidance: ‘For instance, if you have already uplifted an individual staff members’ pay rate to the value of the national minimum wage from 1 April 2024 (as you were legally obliged) you will need to retrospectively apply the further 6% contractual uplift.’
It also explained that the staffing expenses element represents the total gross cost of staff pay, so the increase includes employers’ on-cost contributions.
BMA Welsh GP committee chair Dr Gareth Oelmann said the offer was accepted on the basis that this ‘significant’ uplift will provide GPs with ‘greater stability’ in the immediate term given the ‘challenging’ circumstances practices find themselves in.
But he said that the settlement ‘does not resolve every issue’ and that there are reservations about the funding being non-recurrent.
He said that the proposed uplift will help deliver ‘much-needed resources to deliver vital care to patients’, but acknowledged that the settlement ‘does not resolve every issue’.
‘Nevertheless, it provides a solid foundation we can build upon in the next round of negotiations for the 2025/26 contract; we have assurances from the Welsh Government that this will take place as early as possible,’ he said.
As part of the contract deal, agreement was also reached on a number of commitments and contract changes, including:
- Covid antivirals (oral treatments) for immunocompromised patients as ‘unified’ services.
- Learning Disability Directed Supplementary Service (DSS) transferred into ‘unified’ services, with qualifying definition to be agreed. Existing DSS spend of £0.5m will move into the global sum.
- Collection of data via GP systems on frailty and ethnicity
- Practices to enable the repeat prescribing functionality of NHS Wales App.
- Practices to assist patients with Welsh Identity Verification Service (WIVS). This is essentially onboarding for patients for the NHS Wales app.
A GMS Contract Implementation Group will now be established, which will include GPC Wales representation, to take forward the agreed negotiation outcomes and produce detailed guidance for practices, the BMA has said.
Parts of this article first appeared on our sister titles Pulse and Management in Practice
