GPs in Wales will have more time to care for vulnerable patients under a new contract.
The deal forms part of a wider plan to improve primary care services and the Welsh Government said the plan will strengthen Wales’ primary care cluster arrangements.
Over the next two years, surgeries will likely be required to offer extra GP appointments as well as online services for repeat prescriptions.
Dr Charlotte Jones, chair of the General Practitioners Committee Wales, said: “The practice will be able to share the services that they provide.
“They will be able to support each other if certain practices are having difficulties, which we know is happening across Wales.”
Increased collaboration between pharmacists and community nurses will help to deliver better care in the community, she said.
Health Minister Mark Drakeford said: “The two-year agreement reached with GPC Wales directly addresses GPs’ concerns about unnecessary bureaucracy.
“This places more trust and reliance on the professionalism of GPs to use their clinical judgement and will allow GPs to spend more time caring for the most vulnerable people with complex care needs, in particular, the frail and elderly.