The Scottish Government has failed to work with doctors to create a Scottish solution to delivering extended hours in general practice, according to the leader of Scotland’s GPs.
Dr Dean Marshall, chair of the BMA’s Scottish General Practitioners Committee, who will address the Annual Conference of Scottish Local Medical Committees in Clydebank today, will accuse the Scottish Government of “lacking the confidence or will to extract itself from the political agenda which is driving health policy in England,” citing the decision to apply English plans for extended hours north of the Border are a “prime example.”
He said: “I still cannot understand why an SNP Government that was willing to invest new NHS resources and be flexible in its implementation was not bold enough to come up with a Scottish solution for extended hours. The Government could have shown great leadership and worked with us to develop something that GPs could deliver and was what the public wanted. Instead they decided to follow Gordon Brown’s lead.”
He accused the Government of raising patients’ expectations for extended access to general practice.
“Even if practices do decide to deliver the service, patients will not have access to the full range of services that are available during the day and there is no way to guarantee that these pre-booked appointments will be available only to patients who work during the day. It is we, GPs, that will have the job of explaining this to our patients and we will be the ones, literally, paying the price when patient surveys reflect that disappointment.”
He also criticised the pay award for GPs that was announced earlier this month, arguing that it will mean a third year without any increase in practice funding.
“Once again, GPs are looking at a further decrease in funding. There is a clear attempt to erode the Minimum Practice Income Guarantee (MPIG), a guarantee that is heavily relied upon by the vast majority of GP practices in Scotland.
“I am under no illusion about how angry you will be about this year’s pay award. No amount of window dressing will cover up the fact that this is another pay cut for GPs but I can assure you we will not be accepting this decision without a fight.”
He added: “To say I am disappointed with developments over the last year is an understatement. Perhaps GPs the length and breadth of the country expressed it better when 96 per cent of you said that you had no confidence in this government’s handling of the NHS.”
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