The cost of the out-of-hours service is 'unsustainable', says a watchdog

It is expected to cost �120,000 to fund the doctors in Machynlleth, who are earning �108 an hour under new contract guidelines, until January.

Powys Local Health Board (PLHB) said it was paying a standard rate which every GP in the UK now earned.

But Montgomeryshire Community Health Council said the rate was too high.

PLHB had planned to work with Gwynedd Local Health Board to run the out-of-hours care in the Machynlleth area.

Now GPs in and around the Powys town will operate the service, said PLHB.

It is obvious that there is going to be a lot less money available to treat people who are ill AM Glyn Davies

Montgomeryshire CHC said the five GPs working the area would earn about �1,200 a night when the new system started on Monday. Currently they earn �6,000 each for the work per year.

"GPs will be earning about �1,200 a night in Machynlleth, or more than �100 per hour, to serve 5,000 people," said Montgomeryshire CHC's chief officer John Howard.

"The cost will be completely unsustainable.

"We understand that funding GPs in Machynlleth between now and January is going to cost �120,000 because of an arrangement with the GPs to serve a larger area."

Mr Howard, who is based in Newtown, added: "Don't get me wrong, GPs do a fantastic job but the vast increase in funding would be better spent reducing waiting times or carrying out vital operations.

"GPs will still be paid whether they are called out or not, but in rural areas where the population is small they are unlikely to be called out frequently."

Conservative AM for Mid and West Wales, Glyn Davies, said he was shocked by the GPs' new rates of pay.

"In some parts of rural Wales GPs have now got the assembly over a barrel and it will be financially impossible to provide a service in places like Machynlleth," he said.

"The local health board may well have no choice in the matter but to concede it is impossible to provide an out-of-hours access to doctors in places like Machynlleth.

"It is obvious that there is going to be a lot less money available to treat people who are ill and a lot less to bring waiting lists down."

PLHB said it had received extra money to fund the service which had been jointly planned for Machynlleth and Cemaes Road, but from which Gwynedd Local Health Board had pulled out at short notice.

GPs contracts come into force in Machynlleth on Monday

Discussions are also taking place with Shropdoc, the provider of the out-of-hours service elsewhere in Powys, to bring the Machynlleth and Cemaes Road service into the overall scheme in the county, she said.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said doctors throughout the UK were earning about �90 per hour under the new contracts, but those in rural areas received more because it was difficult to attract them to the countryside.

A spokesman for the BMA said: "Doctors can expect to earn between �80 and �90 per hour under the new contracts, but as it's difficult to attract doctors in rural areas they may be paid more.