Under pressure

A Wishaw list MSP is calling on the Scottish Government to cut the spiralling cost of hiring locum GPs in Lanarkshire.

Tory member Graham Simpson, right, told the Scottish Parliament that Lanarkshire surgeries are at breaking point due to the cost of bringing in short-term help.

One locum demanded £764 a day and the full cost of his travel from the Isle of Man to be covered.

Mr Simpson said: “When we have a GP crisis, the cost of locums goes up and that is certainly what has been happening recently in Lanarkshire and beyond.

“I have been sent letters that have been written by two GP practices in Lanarkshire. One calls itself a ‘cry for help’.

“We are rapidly reaching a crisis point trying to provide adequate GP locum cover.

“Trying to find locum GP cover for existing GPs already in place in general practice is becoming a major issue.

“According to one letter, locums have discovered their rarity to be a valid reason to try to hold GP practices to ransom.

“Most surgeries would usually pay between £230 to £260 per three-hour session for a GP locum cover and up to £500 for a full day. That has recently increased to up to £800 a day.

“It is incredibly time- consuming and frustrating and on a couple of instances locums have asked for as much as £650 per day to see no more than 30 patients.

“Another one charged £764 per day to see no more than 24 patients with the cost of return flight from their home in the Isle of Man to be paid and to be picked up and returned from the airport. That is unbelievable.

“Those demands are holding the NHS and the people of Scotland to ransom.

“The situation is now intolerable and unsustainable, with many practices having to reduce their patient-facing time to avoid prejudicing the quality of the consultation.

“The Scottish Government needs to listen and do something to fix this ridiculous situation now.”

A NHS Lanarkshire spokesman told the Wishaw Press that according to the health board’s most recent figures there were two GP vacancies in the Wishaw area. A teenager was caught with a knife in Motherwell town centre. Aaron Pritchard, 18, pleaded guilty to having the blade in Merry Street on August 23. Sentence was deferred until October 24.

These demands are holding the NHS and the people of Scotland to ransom