The assessment that the Welsh Government makes is that the future of primary care cannot depend on GPs alone. The nature of the GP population is changing. The sorts of contracts that people emerging into the world of primary care wish to take up are changing, and we have to change with it. We have to change with it primarily by expanding the range of professional voices who are able to provide primary care services. A focus exclusively on GPs will not give us the sustainable future for primary care that we need here in Wales.

GPs remain fundamental to that primary care team—leading it, responsible for clinical standards, making sure that they see those people who only a GP can see. But at the same time, they will oversee broader teams involving physiotherapists, pharmacists, advanced practice nurses and paramedic professionals, all of whom are able to provide a clinically effective service to people who need a primary care contact. That is the way in which we will find a future for primary care that meets the needs of the Welsh population and that, through that mix of professionals who will be at the front line, can make sure that the right sort of help is available to the patient far quicker than if we were simply to be relying on the model that has served us well up until now, but that is reaching the end of its exclusive usefulness.