GP shake-up under new health care plan
Patients could be seen by other specialists to free up docs
MARC MCLEAN
Patients in Rutherglen and Cambuslang may not get appointments with their doctor like before under a restructuring of local healthcare services.
Instead, they will be directed to an advanced nurse practitioner, pharmacist or another member of primary healthcare team in certain cases.
These changes will be implemented in phases at GP surgeries over the next two years as NHS Lanarkshire rolls out its Primary Care Improvement Plan (PCIP).
The PCIP supports the delivery of the new national GP contract which aims to refocus the role of doctors, working with a wider team to provide more healthcare in the community.
More than 90 per cent of healthcare is provided in primary care – this includes GPs, practice staff, pharmacists, dentists and opticians among others.
However, the number of GPs in Lanarkshire is reducing, and people are living longer, with more health issues.
Dr Linda Findlay, medical director of South Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “There is a need to provide primary care differently, to support people to stay as healthy as they can for as long as they can, and make sure they get a quick response from the right service when they need it.”
The PCIP has been set up to ensure that people are seen by the right person, in the right place, at the right time.
This may not always be a GP which means doctors will have more time to spend with the patients who need them most.
Dr Findlay added: “These changes won’t happen overnight, they will be implemented over the next two years. People will start to see small changes, this will include the option to see a wider range of staff who can help.”
Scottish Conservatives claim Scotland is facing a GP “crisis”, and called on the SNP government to invest more in family doctors.
Miles Briggs, Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary said: “We are facing a GP crisis in Scotland and Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP government are failing to address it.
“Audit Scotland warned this year that the SNP government will struggle to recruit the GPs we need over the coming decade.
“Nicola Sturgeon failed to plan ahead when she was health secretary and her mistakes are now letting down families who need quick and easy access to their doctor.”
The First Minister insisted the Scottish Government was “working towards” the target of having 11 percent of frontline NHS cash go to primary care by 2021.