FAMILY doctors have voted unanimously against any attempt to alter their public holiday entitlement or introduce seven-day opening for GP surgeries in Scotland, as the Health Secretary confirmed that general practice would receive an extra £250 million a year in funding from 2021.
GPs called on the Scottish Government to provide assurances that it had no plans to impose GP opening of 84 hours a week, insisting such a move would be "unsustainable" amid an unprecedented crisis in recruitment and retention across the profession.
It comes amid a backlash by colleagues in England, where GP practices were warned they would lose funding unless they switched to opening hours of 8am to 8pm seven days a week.
GPs attending the BMA's annual Local Medical Committees conference in Clydebank yesterday also demanded that the current public holiday system is maintained in the face of a ongoing review launched by the Scottish Government. It followed criticism by emergency and out-of-hours doctors that four-day surgery closures at Christmas and New Year were piling pressure on A&E and hospital beds.
Dr Kirk Russell, of the Lanarkshire LMC, said: "We are barely managing to cope with our existing workloads, so any attempt to extend our hours or reduce our public holidays must be stopped and we will rigorously oppose this."
More than a quarter of practices in Scotland have at least one GP vacancy, 32 per cent of GP training places are unfilled and more than a third of GPs are planning to retire in the next five years. LMC representatives told the conference that extended working would deter junior medics from entering general practice. Fears were also raised about the impact on childcare for GPs with young families.
Health Secretary Shona Robison insisted the public holiday review was "not about making you work Christmas Day and New Year's Day whether you like it or not".
The review is expected to consider issues such as premium payments for working public holidays and the role of pharmacists. Changes will be in place for Christmas 2017 and potentially ready to be trialled at Easter.
Ms Robison added: "Our view of a seven-day service is about making sure services are safe."
It came as Ms Robison confirmed that general practice in Scotland will receive an extra £250m a year from 2021. The funding is part of a £500m boost for primary care, announced in October last year, and follows months of speculation over exactly how much would be allocated to GPs.
Dr Alan McDevitt, chair of the BMA’s Scottish GP Committee, said the cash would help create a "sustainable future" for general practice. Dr McDevitt also welcomed the announcement that the Scottish Government intends to move away from GP practices providing immunisation programmes.
He said: "Freeing up practice time by removing responsibility for immunisation programmes will give welcome relief to overloaded practice staff, allowing them to concentrate more on the needs of patients."
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