NHS shortages ‘major risk’

Health: Scottish BMA chief describes pressures on system as unrelenting

Doctors have accused the Scottish Government of “simply ignoring a major risk to the health service” by failing to deal with staff shortages in the NHS, the chairman of the British Medical Association in Scotland is set to claim.

Dr Peter Bennie will use a speech today to highlight the “unrelenting” pressures that staff and services face – adding there are areas where the NHS lacks enough staff to “look after patients properly”. Official figures show more than 400 consultant jobs across Scotland are unfilled while Brexit could spark an “exodus of talented staff”, he will claim.

He will say urgent action is now needed to tackle the problems, with the BMA calling on governments across the UK to increase NHS funding.

The BMA’s Scottish chairman will use his speech to the organisation’s annual representative meeting in Bournemouth to speak out on the issues medical staff face.

He will argue the public must be consulted about which services they want to see provided on the NHS, as well as being told “honestly how much it will cost”.

Both the “financial difficulties facing the NHS in Scotland and the pressures on our clinical workforce are unrelenting”, Dr Bennie will say.

“Good health services cost money and health spending is a political choice. The UK spends a smaller proportion of its national wealth than the average levels spent by comparable leading European nations and the BMA is calling for that to change, in all four nations.”

On staffing, he will insist: “We simply do not have enough doctors in general practice or secondary care in Scotland to look after patients properly.

“The most recent government figures show that more than 400 consultant posts in Scotland are unfilled and almost half of these have been unfilled for more than six months.”

Junior positions in many specialities “lie empty”, he will add, while more than a quarter of GP practices are “missing” senior staff.