Dumbarton, Vale of Leven and Clydebank health centres where some GPs GPs are particularly overworked and overstretched.
By Bill Heaney
The Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care, Michael Matheson, PICTURED LEFT, told him: “I am clear that patients should always have access to general medical services. Practices must apply to their health board to close their list and agree the conditions and timeline for reopening them.
“Circumstances will arise in which a practice experiences capacity issues and is unable to routinely accept new patients on to its list. We expect health boards to work with practices as constructively and flexibly as is appropriate to help to manage the situation and ensure that all patients have access to GP services.”
Martin Whitfield replied: “There can be no denying that, under the Scottish National Party Government, GP surgeries and our GPs are particularly overworked and overstretched.
“Statistics that were published this week show that, in the past 10 years, the whole-time equivalent number of GPs has plummeted by 200, but the number of registered patients in Scotland has soared by more than 390,000 in the same period.
“If the Scottish Government were a patient, would it accept that from its GPs?”
Michael Matheson told him :”I recognise that general practice services are under pressure and that they are under greater pressure in some parts of the country than they are in others because of population shifts, which create particular challenges for practices.
“Martin Whitfield will be aware of the significant investment that we have put in to expand the primary care team, with some 4,700 additional staff being recruited to support our general practices throughout the country.
“That includes physiotherapists, phlebotomists and pharmacy services. All of that helps to support general practice. Alongside that, there is the commitment that we have made to recruit an extra 800 GPs over this parliamentary session and into the next parliamentary session. We are making good progress on that.
“However, I recognise and acknowledge the challenges that general practices have. We have been expanding the primary care team around them to ensure that patients can receive a broad range of services within general practice.”
Conservative health spokesperson Sandesh Gulhane, right, who is himself a GP, told MSPs: “GPs want to keep their lists open but, to do that, they risk becoming overwhelmed and they cannot offer the same level of service.
“A particular issue arises with the construction of new-build developments—the cabinet secretary has referred to that. Planning permission is often conditional on developers improving things such as local infrastructure, roads, rail and cycle paths, and investing in schools to cope with increases in the population of the area.
“However, no provision is made for increasing primary care capacity, and GP surgeries become inundated with new patients when they are already full to capacity. Will the Scottish Government look at addressing that issue?”
Mr Matheson: told him: “I recognise that that has been a long-standing issue. It has even been experienced in my own constituency when there have been new housing developments. That can place pressure on local health infrastructure, particularly primary care services.
“I am very open to looking at whether there is more that we can do to ensure that the potential impact of residential developments on local health infrastructure can be addressed more effectively through how planning arrangements operate in local authorities. I am more than happy to engage with Sandesh Gulhane on that issue to see whether further action could be taken.”
LibDem Willie Rennie accused Mr Matheson of being “very laid back about the issue”.
He added: “It is clear that he has not read the words of Dr Andrew Buist from the British Medical Association, who has said that demand is outstripping capacity, GPs are working beyond safe limits and they are exhausted and burnt out. The cabinet secretary acts as if this is not an emergency. What new steps will he take to deal with this emergency before patients suffer?”
But Michael Matheson said: “I am acutely aware of the challenges and the need for action to be taken on the matter. I think that I have met Andrew Buist three times in the past two weeks alone, and we have discussed those very issues. Therefore, I am acutely aware of the pressures on general practice.
“We are taking measures to increase recruitment, and the level of specialist training provision for general practice is increasing. We have more people coming into general practice. I believe that, this year alone, we have been oversubscribed in respect of those who have wanted to go into general practice as a specialty. We continue to look at how we can increase numbers in the years ahead.
“We want more GPs. We have, of course, more GPs in Scotland per head of population than there are in any other part of the United Kingdom. There is also the recruitment of the wider primary care team. Some 4,731 additional staff are being provided.
“That includes physiotherapists, phlebotomists and pharmacy staff, all of whom are critical in meeting the wider demand that patients have. They take away some of the direct demand from general practice and allow others to get the support that they require.”
Top of page picture: MSPs told more physiotherapists, phlebotomists and pharmacy staff are being recruited to lessen the burden on GPs.