General practice workforce: as at 30 September 2025

From 30 September 2025, general practice workforce data are sourced from the Primary Care Workforce Intelligence System (PCWIS), which supersedes the Wales National Workforce Reporting System (WNWRS) that had been the data source since 2020. 

As there are seasonal recruitment patterns, comparisons over time should only be made with the same reference dates in previous years. Extensive validation work has shown that PCWIS data is comparable with WNWRS data. 

PCWIS is maintained by NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership. 

• On 30 September 2025, there were 1,602 full-time equivalent (FTE) fully qualified GPs providing health care from 368 general practices in Wales.
• The number of fully qualified GPs decreased by 6 (0.4%) and the number of general practices decreased by 3 (0.8%) from 30 September 2024.

When broken down by specific GP types there were:

• 994 FTE GP partners, an annual decrease of 2.9%
• 480 FTE salaried GPs, an annual increase of 9.7%
• 117 FTE GP locums who worked in the quarter, an annual decrease of 12.5%
• 11 FTE GP retainers, an annual decrease of 2

Alongside fully qualified GPs, there were:

• 461 FTE GP registrars (trainee GPs), an annual decrease of 0.5%
• 981 FTE registered nurses, an annual decrease of 4.5%
• 950 FTE direct patient care staff (staff who are not GPs or nurses but deliver health services to patients, such as health care assistants, dispensers and pharmacists), an annual decrease of 2.1%
• 3,842 FTE administrative or other non-clinical practice staff, an annual decrease of 2.7%

If a contract is not in place between a local health board and a partner, the health board can directly manage a general practice. The health board directly employs staff, and the practices are usually led by salaried GPs or GP locums.

• On 30 September 2025, there were 24 local health board managed practices, an annual increase of 5. These practices employed 96 FTE fully qualified GPs and 410 FTE wider practice staff. These staff are included in the total staff counts.

These statistics refer to the workforce of general practices operating under the General Medical Services (GMS) contract within the NHS. It does not include any data from private practices. 

Further information on data collection processes and statistical quality is available in the quality report.

NHS Workforce and Primary Care Statistics
Email: stats.healthinfo@gov.wales

Media: 0300 025 8099