Labour accuse SNP of 'unforgivable ignorance' over GPs

Scottish Labour Public Health Spokesperson Dr Richard Simpson has accused Scottish Government ministers of displaying “unforgivable ignorance” in their response to research he carried out into the scale of problems in General Practice in Scotland.

Simpson surveyed all 987 GP practices in Scotland and had replies from 330 of them.  The results show one in four GPs are approaching retirement and vacancies are increasing, which has led to health boards having to step in to run practices.

Forty practices have no GP partners at all, according to Simpson.

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Public Health minister Maureen Watt could not name how many surgeries were been taken into special measures by health boards during a television interview last night. “There is not a crisis in the NHS, people are getting to see a GP or someone in the GP team,” she said.

She added: “I know the figures the Labour party are talking about are wrong.”

In a letter to the minister today, Simpson calls the response “shockingly poor”, saying she failed to understand the research by both him and the BBC.

“The reality is that we are facing a looming crisis in GP recruitment in Scotland. One in four GP partners are close to retirement age and I have reports of various practices unable to register new patients because of demand, with close to two million people in Scotland served by understaffed, under resourced practices,” he said.

He added the Government response was “one of complete and utter denial or sheer, and quite frankly unforgivable, ignorance”.