RCGP Cymru Wales

About RCGP Cymru Wales

The Royal College of General Practitioners Wales represents a network of over 2,000 GPs, committed to improving patient care. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on resources, education, training, research and clinical standards

RCGP Welsh Council

The RCGP Welsh Council voting membership is made up of GP members from across Wales. Each of the three Welsh Faculties – North, South East and South West Wales - nominate up to three of their Faculty Board members to be representatives at Welsh Council with the Chair of each Faculty being a ‘de facto’ fourth member representative of the Faculty board to Welsh Council. In addition, each of the Faculties also appoints a UK Council representative, and these too are members of Welsh Council. There are also three RCGP member representatives appointed for specific GP groups – GP registrar, First5 and Sessional GPs. Additional RCGP members are co-opted to Welsh Council for their expertise in various areas. There are also two ex-officio members of Welsh Council, being the President of the College and the Chair of the Council of the College.

Welsh Council members give voluntarily of their time to further the objectives of the College in Wales.

The Chair of RCGP Wales is Dr Rowena Christmas.

Email: wales@rcgp.org.uk
Twitter: @RCGPWales

Welsh Council meetings take place on a quarterly basis with the Annual General Meeting normally being held in November. Observers to Welsh Council include representatives from Welsh Government, and other stakeholder organisations, including the General Practitioners Committee of the BMA, and the Royal College of Nursing. Observers are not entitled to vote.

RCGP Cymru Wales Leadership programme 2024

The RCGP Cymru Wales Leadership programme is due to recommence in November 2024. For information on future programmes please get in touch.

RCGP Wales leadership programme information (PDF file, 277 KB).

Deep End Wales Project

Deep End Wales was launched as a pilot in 2022 to support general practice to play its part in tackling deep-rooted health inequalities. Its work has been inspired by the progress of the Deep End scheme in Scotland which has led to many similar projects around the world. At the heart of the Deep End principle is the work of pioneering Welsh GP Dr Julian Tudor Hart and his 1971 paper on the Inverse Care Law. Deep End Wales is offering support in partnership with Welsh Government for general practices situated in the 100 most socio-economically disadvantaged areas of Wales. The key focus is on workforce, education, advocacy, and research with a commitment to finding ‘grassroots up’ solutions. The Joint Chairs for Deep End Wales are now Dr Jonny Currie and Dr Neil James. Dr Joanna Watts-Jane has also been appointed as Deputy Chair. For further information about Deep End Wales please contact DeepEndWales@rcgp.org.uk. For more information on the project, visit the Deep End webpage.

Safeguarding Peer Support Groups

RCGP Cymru Wales Chair Dr Rowena Christmas is encouraging colleagues in Wales to establish safeguarding peer support groups. These allow for open, anonymised discussion of potential patient safeguarding situations among practice teams to help deliver the most appropriate care.

A long-time advocate of safeguarding peer support groups and an expert in the field of safeguarding, Rowena has produced a checklist to start the process for forming a group. 

• Connect with local practices and agree a method of sharing information relating to best practice  about recognising and managing safeguarding concerns. 
• Peer support groups should comprise one local area, perhaps covering between one and three cluster groups to facilitate regular virtual or face to face meetings.
• Members should  include practice safeguarding leads as well as any other interested persons such as clinicians who would value discussion a case, GP trainees, foundation level doctors or medical students. Aside from a core group of members, attendance to meetings could be on an ad hoc basis.
•  Confidentially is paramount so patient names and personal information should not be mentioned during case-based discussions and should be redacted from any documents used.
• Peer support group meetings should be a safe space where members can ask for advice and voice concerns without judgment.
• A supportive atmosphere is essential as the subject matter and circumstances which give rise to safeguarding concerns can be hard to listen to.
• Everyone should be given the opportunity to speak, to ensure that all members get the most out of a session.

For more information on safeguarding please see RCGP's safeguarding hub or the National Safeguarding Team.  

If you would like further advice on how to become involved with safeguarding peer support groups, please contact Nicolas Webb. 

Please do let us know if you are setting up a Safeguarding Peer Support Group.

RCGP Cymru Wales Schools Activities

RCGP Wales has an established history of running and supporting widening-access events for school pupils across Wales. These face to face events occur in both South and North Wales and receive the support and active participation of colleagues from both Medical Schools within Wales. The Circumstances brought about by the pandemic in 2020 resulted in a change in the formatting and delivery and saw a move to an online delivery model.

All content in this area enables those who attended to revisit the content delivered, plus anyone who couldn't join to gain access to the material. The key resources can be found below

Senedd Election Manifesto Calls

RCGP Cymru Wales made a series of policy calls ahead of the May 2021 Senedd elections. The Manifesto Calls document was issued directly to each of the parties and shared within the Welsh health and social care sector.

• RCGP Wales Manifesto Calls COVID-19 Digital (PDF file, 610 KB)

Improving GP Access

Workload pressures are very high and that impacts on how easy it is to access general practice. At its core, this is a workforce issue and can only be fixed by there being a sustainable number of GPs and their primary care colleagues in general practice. However, there are steps which can be taken swiftly to tackle the challenge of GP access which when it does not work smoothly is a frustration for patient and GP alike. We are on the same side in seeking to improve GP access.

In 2021, the College brought forward proposals which included clarity of triage, minimising the number of steps required of a patient to book an appointment, introducing online appointment booking and increasing the scope of video consultation where convenient for the patient while always ensuring that face to face consultations are available where most appropriate. You can read more about these proposals on the RCGP website.

MDT Resource

RCGP Wales and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society launched the MDT Resource on 12 February 2020.

General practice is evolving fast: GPs are collaborating closely with pharmacists and other health professionals to enable patients to access the right professional at the right time. Culture will be the ultimate driving force behind the success of the MDT model of general practice, and driving up standards and quality of patient care will depend upon professional relationships and understanding of all professional roles. 

Our next steps will include the launch of a series of multi-professional learning events which would further embed the ethos of MDT collaboration into our everyday working lives.

The MDT Resource booklet is available in Welsh (PDF file, 1.2 MB) or English (PDF file, 1.2 MB) and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society will be updated with case studies and further information as MDT working evolves.

Local Faculties

In addition to a base in Cardiff, the College in Wales is represented through three regional faculty offices in:

• South West Wales
• South East Wales
• North Wales

Contact us

RCGP Cymru Wales
4th Floor
Cambrian Buildings
Mount Stuart Square
Cardiff Bay
Cardiff
CF10 5FL

T: 020 3188 7757
E: wales@rcgp.org.uk

Join the RCGP UK Member forum