Tories call for more NHS funding for GP services
GPs should receive more funding to redress the balance where practitioners get less than 8% of the NHS budget for doing 90% of patient contacts, the Conservatives have said.
GPs should receive more funding to redress the balance where practitioners get less than 8% of the NHS budget for doing 90% of patient contacts, the Conservatives have said.
Ruth Davidson said there is "a real crisis" in GP care, with the BMA reporting one in three Scottish GPs hope to retire in the next five years.
The Conservative leader visited a surgery in Edinburgh which is being taken over by the council to outline her pledge to provide more GP funding.
She called for the share of NHS funding in general practice to rise to at least 10% of all health spending by 2020, alongside GP training, recruitment and retention targets.
She said: "We need to have a long-term plan for looking after GP services.
"90% of people's contact in terms of health is through general practice but it gets less than 7% of the NHS budget in Scotland.
"The Royal College says that's got to change and we support their plans to increase the money within the health budget that's directed to general practice because it saves money down the line."
She added: "GP surgeries in all parts of the country are just swamped under the weight and they cannot cope.
"Doctors are telling us they cannot cope, patients are telling us they can't get on a list and they can't get an appointment.
"Something has got to give, so we have got to get a really strategic look at how we support this."
Conservative health spokesman Donald Cameron said: "We are facing a GP crisis right across Scotland and it is time the SNP acted.
"Extra funding for general practice would help us deliver a better local service for people right across Scotland, so you can actually get an appointment when you need it, instead of waiting at the end of a phone line."