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Dr Om Aggarwal: ‘A UK contract is not possible now’

I don’t think it is a good deal but it is the best deal with could get in the current climate. Overall, it is a question of being reasonable. We have reached a reasonable agreement and that is the important thing.

The workload for Welsh GPs will rise. At the moment it is not possible to quantify by how much, but moving up QOF thresholds will add a lot of extra work.’

This is not a pay rise. This is something we have to take with a pinch of salt. What I would say, and what I would stress, is that when workload increases - especially when work moves from secondary care into GP practices - resources should also follow.

A 1.5% uplift will be swallowed up quickly and [set against the workload], this will be a pay cut. Again, it is difficult to say by how much.

We agreed to the deal because we considered what the consequences would be if we did not. The most important thing to us, is we don’t want patient care to suffer.

Personally, I would like to have just one contract for the UK, but I don’t think that is possible now that [the devolved nations] have negotiated their own deals. The benefit is to have just one negotiation, and up until now we had one contract. [Going forward], that will not be the case.

Dr Om Aggarwal is a GP in Cardiff and a member of the GPC

Click here to read about the Welsh contract deal

Click here to read a comparison of the deals across the UK