Patients are struggling to access GP appointments and staff are not being paid after a private firm took over the running of surgeries across Gwent, the Senedd heard.

Senedd members called for an inquiry into “disgraceful” claims surrounding eHarleyStreet which manages practices in Brynmawr and Blaenavon remotely from England.

Eluned Morgan said the Welsh Government was deeply concerned about allegations of staff and suppliers being owed thousands of pounds.

Warning of consequences, the first minister said not paying people for a job they have carried “goes beyond the pale and breaks every rule in the book”

She told the Senedd: “This kind of behaviour is not good enough. There is a contract in place – it needs to be respected.

“We expect practices who win contracts to behave responsibly and, if they don’t, there have to be consequences.”

Plaid Cymru’s Delyth Jewell called for an inquiry into how the contracts were awarded, to protect services from companies which “seem to care more for profit”.

Ms Jewell, who represents South Wales East, said: “Patients are finding it difficult to get appointments. There are doctors who have not been paid by this company; some are owed thousands of pounds.

“Now, I do worry that this model, if it’s not checked, could represent privatisation of GP surgeries by the back door.

“Some patients were interviewed by the BBC in the last few weeks and they said that they didn’t feel safe because of these changes – how it’s affecting their care.”

Labour’s Alun Davies, a former minister who represents Blaenau Gwent, said: “The failure of eHarleyStreet is a disgrace.

“My constituents and other people's constituents are finding that they're not only unable to access basic primary care services but we're in a situation where doctors and suppliers remain unpaid and where staff are being bullied.

“These are not the values that we represent as a government and as a parliament, I believe, and not the values of the NHS.”

Calling for action rather than an inquiry, Mr Davies said: “When Aneurin Bevan established the NHS, he established a service that guaranteed access to all – access to healthcare at a local level, primary care services.

“And what we cannot have are primary care services being sold off to people who don't give a damn about the people they're supposed to serve.”

His Labour colleague Hefin David criticised a “deterioration” in service since eHarleyStreet took over surgeries in Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent, Newport and Torfaen.

Dr David said Aneurin Bevan health board provided “unconvicing” answers to politicians’ questions as he called for Welsh ministers to intervene.

During first minister’s questions on January 7, Baroness Morgan replied: “We will not tolerate this kind of behaviour and a lack of respect for the contract that has been signed.”

She said Jeremy Miles, her successor as Wales’ health secretary, will meet with the health board to make clear “this type of behaviour is not good enough”.

The first minister pointed out that surgeries have always been independent but she suggested health boards could take over management, employing GPs directly.

She told the chamber: “What I'm not happy with is a model that is effectively run at a distance, where contracts are not respected. And I think that that is taking us down a route that we've got to be very, very careful of.”