Welsh patients ‘facing growing struggles to book GP appointments’

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) have raised concerns over the growing difficulty of booking GP appointments for patients in Wales.

According to the organisation's report, an estimated 800,000 patients in Wales will find it difficult to secure a convenient appointment with their local GP by 2017, due to the pressures imposed by rising workloads and falling resources.

It is estimated that family doctors and practice nurses now conduct 90 percent of patient contacts for just 7.77 percent of the NHS budget in Wales – down from 8.76 percent in 2005/06. A deficit in the number of staff is also compounding the problems.

As such, the royal college has called for the government to increase funding for the sector to 11 percent of the NHS budget by 2017, while taking steps to recruit more family doctors and practice nurses.

RCGP Wales chair Paul Myres said: "Patients shouldn't face a battle to get an appointment at their local GP surgery, and practices are trying their utmost to cope with the demand."

The organisation has also raised concerns recently about the number of GP practices that are at risk of closure due to funding issues, a trend that will further exacerbate the current issues.