MEASURES to stem a workload crisis in Scotland's GP surgeries have been announced as doctors warned the future of the service they provide is under threat.
Health Secretary Shona Robison unveiled the short term steps at a conference where GPs described practices folding amid staffing shortages and communities being left without doctors overnight.
The new quick fix measures include a 1.5% increase in funding to cover expenses, more money for practices to pay for cover when doctors are on maternity leave and oxygen cylinders for every surgery to use in emergencies.
At the same time Ms Robison, who was speaking shortly after Scottish Government leadership of NHS reforms was severely criticised in an Audit Scotland report, also spoke of the need for a longer term workforce and funding plan for community health services.
She hinted at the need to manage patient expectations of the NHS in future saying: "We need to change the culture of demand."
And, she reaffirmed commitment to create a new medical school for graduates in Scotland with a specific drive to try and increase the number of new GPs.
Her speech was warmly welcomed, but the doctors repeatedly warned general practice is in crisis at the British Medical Association GP conference in Clydebank.
One Tayside doctor told her in her own constituency the health board had had to take over the running of a practice because it had no doctors, another surgery had no GPs to see patients one day next week and in Angus there were issues providing cover at night.
Dr Gerry Burnett, from Fife, called for a budget increase of £20 per patient per year saying the service could not work "on the funding of 10 years ago."
After the event Ms Robison said "crisis" was not a word she would use but continued: "I think there are significant pressures. I think there is variation in different parts of Scotland. I would not be doing what I have been doing if I did not accept there was a problem."
New occupational health services for GPs and new measures which will take bureaucracy out of obtaining locum cover were promised in Ms Robison's speech. She also said her officials were looking into other solutions to help ease GP workload and she expected these to be announced early in the new parliament.
Ms Robison said: "The Scottish Government has a clear vision for the future of primary care and GP services.
"It is one that sees patients supported by a team of health professionals in the community, with the GP acting as the clinical lead – overseeing patient care and dealing with the most complex and urgent cases.
“We know that the current model is unsustainable and this new vision for community care is one we have developed in close consultation with the BMA and the wider primary care profession.
“Change on this scale does not happen overnight, and the next two to three years will be critical in transitioning towards these new models of care."
Dr Alan McDevitt, chair of the BMA’s Scottish GP Committee, said: “The Cabinet Secretary has today demonstrated that she recognises and understands the problems facing general practice. It is essential that this recognition is also matched by a financial commitment to the future of general practice by investing in a new GP contract."
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