Doctors asked for a national agreement

The British Medical Association in Wales says it fears for the future of many of the hospitals

Dr Andrew Dearden, chairman of BMA Cymru's GPs' committee, has told Health Minister Jane Hutt of his members' concerns.

But the Welsh Assembly Government said it never agreed to discuss pay and conditions at a national level.

Dr Dearden told the minister that he had spoken to "numerous GPs" across Wales who were involved in community hospitals.

"Many of them want to be able to continue to work within community hospitals, as they enjoy the work and feel that they are directly contributing to their communities," he explained.

Many feel unable to commit sufficient time to both their patients and community hospitals Dr Andrew Dearden, BMA Cymru

"They asked for a national agreement that would safeguard current patient services and allow a planned review and development of these services in the future."

The new GP contract, which started in April this year, is designed to improve the level and quality of care received by patients, Dr Dearden said.

GP practices had looked at their commitments to their practice and patients, as well as to their local community hospitals.

"Many feel unable to commit sufficient time to both their patients and community hospitals, and do justice to both under the current arrangements," he added.

"Therefore, a major part of the desired agreement was to be a nationally-agreed system of resources available to practices covering community hospitals, modernising the way they are funded, and bringing extra resources into the practice, allowing them to take on extra staff and doctors."

'Closure risk' claim

Dr Dearden said the assembly government had told the BMA it felt unable to agree such a national deal for community hospitals - even though it had done so for hospital juniors, consultants, and GPs.

He claimed the decision placed some community hospitals "at significant risk of closure" in the next year or two.

"We now fear for the future of many community hospitals as a direct result of the Welsh Assembly Government's decision not to seek a national deal to safeguard current service provision and allow the future development of the services that these community hospitals could provide for vulnerable patients," he said.

An assembly government spokesman said: "At no time in any discussions has the Welsh Assembly Government ever confirmed that we would be negotiating the national rates of remuneration at a national level.

"The minister (Jane Hutt) has confirmed that she wanted nationally-agreed principles to be included in a framework so that a consistent approach would be applied across NHS Wales in respect of GPs working in community hospitals and their remuneration.