The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Service falls short of expectations say opposition parties
A “bleak picture” is painted of Tayside and Fife’s GP services by the findings, the Scottish Conservatives have said.
Liam Kerr, the Dundee-based Tory MSP for the North East Region, picked out problems accessing services in the city as a major failing.
He said: “These figures paint a bleak picture of the patient experience in GP services in many parts of the country.
“The findings for patients accessing a doctor are unacceptably low in many areas, particularly in parts of Dundee, and illustrate how far away we are from the level of service that people expect.
“There have been concerns for some time now about the state of primary care in Scotland and the workload of GPs.
“With a third of family doctors indicating they plan to retire by 2020, it is clear that these are problems which are only going to get worse unless we see some urgent action from the Scottish Government.
“The Scottish Conservatives want to see a cross-party strategic plan to secure Scotland’s NHS, including a new model for primary care which attracts new GPs and keeps them in post.”
Labour’s health spokesman, Anas Sarwar, called the statistics worrying.
He said: “These figures should be of concern. Primary care is vital in taking the pressure off of our hospitals but many people will struggle to get an appointment with their family doctor.
“That’s no surprise because under the SNP we have seen a GP crisis with practices overstretched and understaffed and more than £1 billion cut from primary care funding in the past decade.
“The SNP Government should study these figures with care, they simply are not good enough.”
Alison Johnstone, health spokeswoman for the Scottish Greens, said the latest Health and Care Experience Survey shows that the early priorities of the new Government must be investment in general practice and supporting unpaid carers.
Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Mike Rumbles said: “Unless we see urgent action, Scotland will be hundreds of GPs short by the end of the next parliament.”
“The findings for patients accessing a doctor are unacceptably low in many areas, particularly in parts of Dundee.
LIAM KERR MSP