Rural GP funding pledge is only for the short-term

Re Chairman moves to reassure patients over new GP contracts (The Oban Times, May 31), I find it unfortunate Dr Alan McDevitt has resorted to sugar-coating the real concerns of rural GPs and their patients, which are also being parked until a later date by the Scottish Government.

Dr McDevitt states ‘claims of impending funding cuts are not true’ and that rural practices’ funding is protected. This in the short term, but only for three to five years when subsidies created by the new GP contract will be reassessed.

Under the new GP contract a ‘work allocation system’ is created in the contract. Around 80 per cent of GP practices in rural Scotland are on ‘protected income status’, but this has only been guaranteed for three to five years.

Dr McDevitt and the Scottish Government need to answer who will subsidise the rural practices after this three- to five-year trial? Will the ever-financially-stretched NHS be tasked with funding GPs? Or will the Scottish Government continue indefinitely to subsidise rural GPs?

If they had a clear plan, surely they would make it clear now. There is no cast-in-stone commitment to the long-term future of Scotland’s health whatsoever. How can any aspiring GP or practising GPs see this as a sound business footing to work in rural areas of Scotland? It is not.

This new contract only seems to serve the self-interests of the board of the BMA approved by the Scottish Government to the detriment of Scotland.

If readers wish, they can visit a website that gives the real concerns of rural GPs and the unfactored challenges for GPs in rural areas. https://ruralgp.scot/ rememberrural/ Angus Files,

The Glebe, Kilmelford.