Agreement secures investment, digital upgrades and better patient pathways

WELSH NHS leaders have welcomed the successful conclusion of the new General Medical Services (GMS) contract for 2025-26 — and key elements of 2026-27 — describing it as a “positive example of social partnership” at a pivotal moment for general practice.

The deal, negotiated between Welsh Government, the Welsh NHS Confederation and GP representatives, sets out new investment and commitments for frontline primary care, including accelerated digital transformation through the NHS Wales App and strengthened support for population-level health management.

Darren Hughes, director of the Welsh NHS Confederation, said the agreement comes at a crucial time for GP services across Wales.

He said: “NHS leaders welcome this agreement as a positive example of social partnership in action. We also welcome the commitment to accelerating digital transformation for patients through the NHS Wales App and the measures agreed in the contract to enable enhanced population health management, such as diabetes management.”

Mr Hughes added that GPs and their multidisciplinary teams remain “the front door to the NHS,” and stressed that investment in general practice is essential if Wales is to treat more people closer to home.

“Evidence shows investing in primary and community care reduces demand on hospitals and emergency care and delivers returns of £14 for every £1 invested. To enable this shift ‘upstream’ from hospital-centred care to integrated services in the community, we must develop care pathways and joint performance measures that address the full needs of individuals,” he said.

Background: Why the GP contract matters

General practice forms the foundation of the Welsh NHS, handling millions of patient contacts every year. According to the latest official figures for 2023-24:

• Over 29 million calls were received by GP practices
• 18 million appointments took place
• 11 million of these were face-to-face
• More than 200,000 home visits were carried out
• 78 million prescriptions were dispensed
• Over 14,000 medication reviews took place

Demand has continued to rise while GP numbers have come under sustained pressure, particularly in rural areas such as Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Powys, where recruitment remains a long-running challenge. Practices in West Wales have repeatedly reported difficulties filling vacancies and increasing reliance on multidisciplinary teams, including nurse practitioners, pharmacists and physiotherapists.

The new GMS contract is therefore seen as a key mechanism for stabilising the sector, supporting digital access, improving chronic disease management, and helping to deliver the Welsh Government’s community-by-design programme, which aims to shift care away from hospitals and into community settings.

A recent survey by the Welsh NHS Confederation found that 74 per cent of NHS leaders support moving resources from acute hospital services into primary care, community-based services, mental health and social care, reflecting growing consensus around early intervention and prevention.

What comes next

The Welsh Government is expected to outline further detail in the coming months on how investment will be delivered at practice level, including support for digital tools, workforce development and shared performance measures with health boards.

With winter pressures mounting and hospitals facing record demand, NHS leaders say the success of the new GP contract will be central to improving access, reducing waiting times and ensuring patients in communities such as Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion can receive timely, local care before conditions escalate.

The Welsh NHS Confederation represents all seven local health boards, the three NHS trusts, Health Education and Improvement Wales, and Digital Health and Care Wales.

Long-running 3 Amigos and Dollies group marks 25 years of support

THANKS to outstanding fundraising by the Pembrokeshire-based 3 Amigos and Dollies Motorcycle Group, Hywel Dda Health Charities has funded a major improvement of the outdoor play area at Cilgerran children’s ward in Glangwili Hospital — a project costing more than £15,000.

The 3 Amigos and Dollies have supported Hywel Dda University Health Board’s children’s services for twenty-five years, with their Easter and Christmas toy runs becoming landmark dates in the local calendar, drawing hundreds of bikers and supporters from across west Wales.

The latest funding has delivered a full transformation of the ward’s outdoor space, including a re-sprayed graffiti wall, new toys and play equipment, a summer house, improved storage, and a moveable ramp to make the area more accessible for young patients. Members of the group even volunteered to help paint and refresh the space themselves.

Paula Goode, Service Director for Planned and Specialist Care, said: **“We are so grateful to the 3 Amigos and Dollies Motorcycle Group for their amazing support. Not only have they raised an incredible amount for the ward, but they have given their time to help make the outdoor space as special as possible.

“Outdoor play greatly reduces stress and anxiety for children, and it provides a vital opportunity to meet other young people going through similar experiences. It benefits both their physical and mental wellbeing, so we couldn’t be happier with the transformation.”

Tobi Evans, a volunteer with the fundraising group, said: “Because of the generosity of everyone who donates, we are able to give thousands each year. We are always humbled by how much people give, and it’s thanks to them that we’ve reached our 25th year.”

Katie Hancock, Fundraising Officer for Hywel Dda Health Charities, added: “We can’t thank the 3 Amigos and Dollies enough for their support for Cilgerran ward. You have put a smile on so many faces. Diolch yn fawr!”

Hywel Dda Health Charities funds items, equipment and activities that go beyond core NHS funding, making a meaningful difference to children and families across mid and west Wales.

PATIENTS are being treated in store cupboards, break rooms and toilets as so-called corridor care becomes the norm in Welsh hospitals, the Senedd has heard.

Senedd Members warned treating patients in inappropriate areas has become a “daily reality” rather than an exception as they debated calls for the practice to be eradicated.

The debate was prompted by a petition – submitted by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and British Medical Association (BMA) – which gathered more than 10,000 signatures.

Petitioners demanded that keeping patients on trolleys or chairs for a long time be formally classified as a “never event” – a serious, preventable safety incident that should not happen.

But the Welsh Government rejected the calls, arguing the strict definition of a “never event” applies only to preventable medical mistakes – not systemic capacity pressures.

The petition urged ministers to start reporting on corridor care, pause reductions in hospital beds, invest in community care, and prioritise prevention and early intervention.

Sharing her own experience, Reform UK’s Laura Anne Jones argued corridor care is one of the clearest signs of a health service that has been allowed to fall into crisis.

“I was placed on a broken bed in a corridor for two nights before a room became available,” she said. “I was in too much pain to care at the time but those caring for me said how completely inappropriate it was and kept apologising for it.”

Ms Jones added: “I could hear private conversations between consultants, doctors and nurses about other patients. And I was right against a curtainless window… there was no dignity, no privacy, and that’s just not OK.”

The Conservatives’ Joel James told the Senedd thousands of patients are now being treated on trolleys in corridors, in ambulances, store cupboards and other places not meant for care. “This is putting life at risk,” he said. “They are being treated without proper facilities.”

Mr James warned: “NHS Wales doesn’t even collect data on who is being treated in a corridor. That frankly should surprise no-one, as Welsh Labour’s philosophy has always been, if you don’t measure it, then there is no evidence to pin you down on it.”

His Tory colleague Janet Finch-Saunders said: “I even know of situations where a paramedic will leave a patient in an ambulance with a new paramedic coming on. When that paramedic comes back on the next shift, the same patient is still in that ambulance

“How can that be morally right? It’s inhumane, it’s cruel and it’s certainly unacceptable.”

Mabon ap Gwynfor, Plaid Cymru’s shadow health secretary, warned the “demeaning and dangerous” practice has become an “almost inescapable” part of hospital care.

“What should be the exception has now been normalised,” he said.

Rhys ab Owen, who sits as an independent, highlighted reports of patients being cared for in “car parks, break rooms and even toilets”.

Labour’s Carolyn Thomas, who chairs the Senedd’s petitions committee, warned that RCN and BMA members view corridor care as a “systemic national crisis”.

Responding to the debate on Wednesday December 10, Jeremy Miles acknowledged that corridor care “compromises patient dignity and staff wellbeing”.

But Wales’ health secretary insisted that designating corridor care as a “never event” was not the solution. “The delivery of care in undesignated or non-clinical environments doesn’t meet the criteria due to the complexity of underlying causes,” he said.

Mr Miles told the Senedd: “We do not endorse routine care in non-clinical environments. Our goal is to eliminate this practice through system-wide reform.

“Eradicating care in undesignated or non-clinical environments will not be a simple quick fix. It requires co-ordinated action across health and social care.”