GP dilemma in South Edinburgh

It’s something that we have all taken for granted for decades - the fact that you can get registered with a GP and get an appointment.

The frontline of our NHS is so important for diagnosis and treatment, but also reassurance and advice for patients.

Our GP practices work extremely hard in often challenging circumstances but the system is stretched to breaking point.

The consequences are felt by all parts of the system from patients to the front door of A&E at the Royal Infirmary.

There is no place more acutely experiencing this than in South Edinburgh.

Thousands and thousands of new residents have moved to the new estates in the area, but there has been no commensurate increase in public infrastructure and, in particular, GP services.

New and existing residents are subsequently losing out on access to GPs.

This was highlighted as an imminent problem by NHS Lothian back in 2012 when they asked The

Scottish Government (who had approved most of the new estates on appeal) to provide funding for new services.

A decade later, in 2022, an updated report said that without significant intervention and the provision of at least 10,000 new places, GP services would “fail”.

NHS Lothian and I subsequently identified two potential sites for new GP practices.

Both sites at the new Liberton High School Campus and Gilmerton Gateway were given business plan process approval by NHS Lothian, but when it came to writing the cheque to deliver them The Scottish

Government said no.

In fact, the government pulled funding from all NHS capital projects across NHS Lothian, including the promised new Eye Pavilion and others.

The news that new GP facilities would be ditched came as a hammer blow to both local people and NHS Lothian.

I believe the people of Scotland should not have to pay the price of SNP chaos and more broken promises.

That’s why I will fight tirelessly to get the basic NHS provision that local people deserve.

Almost 17 years of SNP devastation and broken promises of our NHS must end. Patients and our hard working NHS staff deserve better than a Scottish government whose ambition only extends to managed decline at best.

In NHS Lothian’s words the local service is “failing”. It’ll be up to the next Labour government to do what it always has to do in power and save the NHS.