article: It comes as figures suggest a big spike in the number of GP practices being handed back to health boards to manage. The British Medical Association (BMA) said GPs "can't simply carry on working under the stresses and strains they're facing". A senior health official acknowledged a greater pace of change was needed. Measures include trying to recruit more nurses, physiotherapists and pharmacists to become part of "multi-disciplinary teams" in primary care to relieve the pressure on GPs. But the BMA has warned more family doctors could quit unless surgeries get more money. The concerns are also echoed by a group representing grassroots GPs. "Yes there is a GP crisis - there's a crisis of numbers, there's a crisis of funding and there's a crisis of demand," said Sophie Quinney, GP and representative of GP Survival Wales. "Patients are struggling to see their GP because the workload is becoming unmanageable." Meanwhile, the BMA said despite frequent warnings, changes designed to relieve the pressure were happening too slowly, with no improvement seen in three years. Dr Charlotte Jones, chairwoman of the BMA's GPs committee in Wales, said it was hearing "week on week" of doctors being unable to carry on. She said there was a "perfect storm" of GPs nearing retirement, recruitment difficulties to find younger replacements, longer working hours and more complex needs of patients. Dr Jones said despite new strategies coming in to try to deal with the problem, the pace of change was not moving quickly enough and she had seen no improvement in the last three years. "I would say things are getting worse and that's exactly what I'm hearing from my colleagues across Wales and that's being borne out now by the number of practices saying enough is enough," she said. She said the health service was working hard at a national and local level to address issues "but I'm afraid change is not happening quickly enough". Dr Jones said Wales was better placed than other parts of the UK, but added: "Health boards have to grab the nettle, put the investment in and start making the change, otherwise the situation is going to get significantly worse." The BMA said patients in "large swathes of north Wales" now had directly-managed GP practices and they did not see the same doctors a lot of the time. GP SURGERIES HANDED BACK The concerns appear to be backed up by figures from health boards which show the numbers of GP surgeries across Wales having to be taken back into central control because doctors have given up. A total of 33 GP practices were "handed back" to health boards across Wales over a five year period between 2010 and 2015. This included 17 surgeries which closed. But in the past year, figures from health boards obtained by GP Survival Wales, show a spike in some areas. In the south Wales valleys, there were four surgeries handed back in Cwm Taf in 2015/16 alone - twice the total in the previous five years. Across Wales, 20 practices were handed back in the last
summary: The "crisis" facing GP services in parts of Wales is "getting worse" with more practices than ever facing an uncertain future, say doctors' leaders.