BMA issues warning over survival of GP practices and future of NHS

GPs have warned that a massive funding gap must be urgently plugged in order to save the service and the future of the NHS.

BMA Scotland said that 17 years of “eroded” funding now means there is a GP funding shortfall of 22.8%.

The trade union said ministers must inject £290 million into GP services in order to deliver “full funding restoration”.

It said the funding gap, which it said had grown worse as inflation outstrips cash from the Government, is having a “huge impact” on the ability to provide patients with the treatment they need.

The BMA said this came at a time when the nation’s population continues to rise, along with a higher prevalence of disease and more treatment options.

Dr Iain Morrison, chair of the BMA’s Scottish General Practitioners Committee, said: “The funding we receive for every patient we care for has been eroded year after year against inflation since 2008.

“In all, eroded funding streams and new cost pressures have created a shortfall in practice funding of 22.8% when inflation is taken into account.

“This means practices simply do not have the resources required to employ all the staff they need and, in particular GPs, at a time when demand is going up at a rapid rate.

“We know that access to GPs is undeniably a real issue and patients can struggle to get an appointment at their surgery in a timely manner.”

Dr Morrison said medics shared the “frustration” of patients struggling to access their local GP, adding that doctors “want to be able to deliver a service that we are proud of, rather than constantly apologising for”.

“This can only be achieved if urgent action is taken to address a £290 million funding gap – around 1% of the Scottish NHS budget – to stabilise general practice and begin the process of giving our patients the access they need and deserve,” he said.

“Unless this is delivered it will leave general practice at risk of failing. We provide 90% of patient contact and without general practice, the NHS simply cannot survive.”

BMA Scotland has launched a campaign to help explain to patients why they may be struggling to get access to their GP.

Scots will be urged to “stand with your surgery” and back the union’s call for GPs to receive more funding.

Dr Morrison said it was “clear we desperately need more GPs” as the number of GPs per patient reduced from one in 1,515 in 2013 to one in 1,735.

If the Government does not act, then we really do risk the end of general practice in Scotland as we know it, and we cannot allow that to happen.

He added: “If the Government does not act, then we really do risk the end of general practice in Scotland as we know it, and we cannot allow that to happen.

“We have put the Scottish Government on notice that the current direction of travel is leading us towards formal dispute, which the profession has told us is ultimately something they are prepared to do, if it is needed, to save general practice, and properly support the patients we care for in communities up and down Scotland.

“This would be a very last resort and we want to work at pace with Government and do all we can to avoid going down that path.

“The rhetoric for the Government on this suggests they are listening, but action is now required.”

The Scottish Tories urged ministers to “finally heed this stark warning” from the BMA and invest in GPs.

Dr Sandesh Gulhane, the party’s health spokesperson at Holyrood, said: “It’s absurd that at a time when patients can’t get appointments because my GP colleagues are completely overwhelmed, practices can’t afford to take on new doctors to alleviate the crisis due to a lack of funding.

“It’s even more crazy when we have countless unemployed GPs desperate to work.

“The SNP’s steady eroding of funding to GPs is dangerous and illogical because it can prevent the early detection of illnesses like cancer, as well as leading some patients to turn up at already-overwhelmed A&E departments instead.

“The SNP need to invest more in most patients’ first port of call in the NHS, and less on bureaucracy.”

Dame Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s health spokesperson, said the SNP has “run primary care into the ground”.

She added: “GPs are expected to deal with hundreds more patients than there were 10 years ago — this is creating a doom loop of burnout and stress while patients wait on the end of the line.

“Yet rather than recruiting more GPs as promised, the SNP has delivered less.

“And even as patients join the 8am appointment queue, there are qualified GPs sitting on their hands because they can’t find work.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said: “We are in regular dialogue with the BMA, and we are giving careful consideration to their recent letter.

“We welcome the BMA’s collaborative approach in working with us to transform healthcare in Scotland.

“GPs play a vital role in our health service, and we value the care that they provide to patients at a challenging time for the healthcare system.

“We have increased investment in general practice by £73.2 million in the last financial year and are determined to increase the number of GPs in Scotland by 800, by 2027, with an additional 307 GPs added since 2017.

“Our renewed plan for the NHS will ensure that a greater proportion of new funding goes to primary and community care which will assist in supporting both GPs and also helping people to access GP services.”