BMA Scotland GP chair Dr Andrew Buist warned the country is facing a “bleak situation” and called for “urgent action” from the nationalist government. He predicted Scotland could “become seriously under-doctored”, resulting in patients struggling “even more than they are right now to get appointments”.
The medic insisted: “The Scottish Government must take this situation seriously and show greater willingness for increased investment in core general practice services to maintain stability.”
A survey by the British Medical Association (BMA) of GPs in Scotland found just one in 20 (five per cent) of those who responded believe their practice is in a long-term sustainable position. More than two-fifths of practices say they cannot meet demand from patients, while three out of five fear for the future of their practice if a GP quits.
The survey also showed that 43 per cent of GPs in Scotland believe there is no realistic chance soon of their practice being able to meet patient demand for access, according to the survey.
More than a quarter (28 per cent) of GPs said their workload was unmanageable, with 85 per cent of family doctors saying they sometimes or regularly struggle to cope, and their work harms their physical and mental well-being. More than 850 doctors in Scotland took part in the survey, with Dr Buist saying the results “show once again just how precarious the position is for practices and GPs themselves across Scotland”.
The SNP has overseen the decline of the health service in Scotland. When they took power, the Scottish health system was in a good position, far better than that south of the border. Since then, waiting times in AE have grown massively.
The time that people are waiting for essential operations and other treatments has spiralled with the situation getting so bad that many Scots are now taking out loans to access private health care, and most people directly report that they are finding it increasingly hard to get a GP appointment.
The health system in Scotland is in chaos, and it is just another item on the long list of SNP failures during their years in Power.
The Scottish health care system needs a massive increase in funding and resources, including a move to hi-tech preventative screening and medicine rather than waiting for people to fall ill. New technology could take a lot of pressure off front-line staff and specialists.
While the number of GPs in Scotland has slightly increased to hit a high of 5209 in 2022, we need to see this rise further with more homegrown doctors being trained. The cap on places in medical schools requires lifting, and there needs to be funding for future Doctors while they study
Training more Doctors is only part of the solution; we need to increase both wages and the chance for Doctors to have a better work-life balance to enable the service to retain them rather than see them flee abroad for better pay and conditions or choose to retire early.
But it is not just Doctors that we need; the NHS in Scotland is seeing a massive vacancy problem in nursing and support services. This needs to be solved as well. Again the cap on nursing and other medical training needs to be lifted, and pay and conditions increased.
The Scottish Government is living in a delusional world where they see themselves as doing well in healthcare in Scotland, they are not, and a change is needed with them removed from power. A competent, honest Nationalist Government is installed that cares about the health and future of the Scottish people.
