A POWYS surgery fears it could be forced to close over a lack of funding.

Llandrindod Wells Medical Practice has warned patients to expect changes to the range of services it provides and the way services are delivered due to a lack of income.

The surgery says it will be forced to make “difficult decisions” over the level of service it can deliver to patients, due to “insufficient” funding from the Welsh Government.

Due to the chronic underfunding of the NHS for years, the surgery has described the system as “on the brink of collapse”.

It is calling for patients and spa town residents to show their support by signing a British Medical Association (BMA) Cymru petition aimed at finding fair and adequate resourcing of GP surgeries in Wales.

In a post published on its Facebook page on Wednesday, Llandrindod Wells Medical Practice, said: “As a GP practice, we are having to make difficult decisions that will affect the level of service we can deliver to our patients.

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“The income we receive from (the) Welsh Government to provide medical care to patients is insufficient for us to carry on providing the current range of services.

“Regretfully, you will see changes in the way services are delivered and the range of services we can provide.

“If the situation doesn’t improve, we fear the surgery will close and the services we provide will be lost, and in a rural community such as ours there are limited alternative services to rely on or to replace us.”

The surgery shared data, showing that for every patient registered with the practice it receives just £111.40 each year – in return offering unlimited medical appointments and advice to patients.

Recent data shows that in 2022/23, GP surgeries in Wales received a total of 27 million phone calls, with 19 million appointments offered, 1.3 million referrals to secondary care were made and a total of 56 million prescription items were issued, all within a population of 3 million.

The surgery said that in 2020/2, general medical services had only 6.1 per cent of the NHS Wales budget, and that the percentage of NHS funding spent on general practice has fallen by 30 per cent since 2005, from 8.7 to 6.1 per cent, while services provided increased.

“The NHS has been chronically underfunded for years, and in primary care it has gone relatively unnoticed due to the dedication of GPs and practice staff to continue providing a service,” continued the post.

“The system is, however, on the brink of collapse and we can’t keep making up the shortfall for the NHS, we simply don’t have the capacity to do so.

“This saddens us as it is something we never thought we’d have to say.”

The post attracted scores of attention from people, who said they had signed the petition – which has nearly 15,000 signatures.

The surgery has asked for locals to help its cause, with Powys patients even more disadvantaged due to the rurality of the county.

“Given our rurality there are few other medical services locally to prop up the system if we are not here,” added the surgery.

The surgery is looking to secure a financial rescue package from the Welsh Government and is also asking local people to contact their local MP and Member of the Senedd (MS) to keep it open and enable it to maintain the current range of services.

You can sign and share the petition at https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/245944. Further information is available at https://www.bma.org.uk/.../80-of-gps-express-patient.