Wales is to end the 8am appointment “bottleneck” as part of a £12 million GP contract deal, it has been announced.

The Welsh government said that only releasing appointments at 8am is “no longer acceptable”. It said the extra funding would enable practices to develop efficient booking systems. The British Medical Association said the deal would allow practices to pay staff their 3% pay increase – and welcomed promises to step up government messaging about the best way to use practices.

Welsh health minister Eluned Morgan said: “We know GPs and their staff are under significant pressure at the moment. They have played a really important role during the pandemic. I am very pleased we have been able to agree a new contract which rewards all staff working in general practice with a pay rise. We have also agreed a way forward to improve the appointment system. I want to see an end to the 8am bottleneck where patients have to telephone their practice numerous times, day after day to get an appointment.”

Dr Phil White, chair of the BMA’s Welsh GP committee, said: “The investment in capacity will go some way to alleviating current pressures and is a welcome acknowledgement of the deficit GPs face in manpower to deliver the services they would wish to. Put simply, there are not enough GPs working in primary care to manage current levels of demand. What this means, is that patients will be signposted to alternative services if they are deemed more appropriate and may have to wait to see their GP when they need to. ”

He added: “We believe that the Welsh Government understand the existential challenge GP practices face, and we are committed to continuing to work together to ensure that patients can access a better resourced General Practice service in the future.”