SNP spending confirmation "enormous relief to GPs throughout the country"

An extra £500 million pledged by the First Minister for primary health care must be specifically invested in GP surgeries, doctors have insisted.

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) said there had been “confusion” about whether the money - which Nicola Sturgeon announced in her speech to the SNP conference last October - would only go towards general practice, or would be spent on wider community health services.

The organisation, which represents some 5,000 family doctors in Scotland, said it was an “enormous relief” that a senior member of the SNP had confirmed the cash would go to general practice.

Dr Philippa Whitford, who was the SNP health spokeswoman in Westminster prior to the general election, told the medical magazine Pulse that the Scottish Government “has committed to reversing the decline in the share of the health budget that general practice has had and bringing it up to 11% by the end of the parliament”.

Ms Sturgeon had previously pledged to “increase spending on primary care services to 11% of the frontline NHS budget”.

She said at the time that meant “by 2021, an extra half billion pounds will be invested in our GP practices and health centres”.

But the RCGP pointed to a letter from the Scottish Government and the British Medical Association Scotland in May 2017 which said the “additional investment, in direct support of general practice, will reach an extra £250 million per year by 2021” as part of the pledge to “increase overall annual funding for primary care by £500 million by 2021/22”.

Dr Miles Mack, chair of the RCGP said the “reaffirmation by Dr Philippa Whitford, the SNP's Westminster spokesperson on health, of an extra recurring £500 million to general practice, will be an enormous relief to GPs throughout the country and their patients”.

He added patients had been delighted with the First Minister's announcement'' in October, but said thatsince then, there has been some confusion over the detail of that commitment with the suggestion that much of it would not go directly to general practice''.

Dr Mack stated: “The confirmation that the Scottish Government has committed to increasing the share of the health service budget spent on general practice to 11% by the end of the parliament, equivalent to an extra £500 million per year, is welcome news indeed.”

While he said extra investment in wider community health care would be “very welcome” it was “vital, however, that this £500 million investment be supplied to general practice specifically”.

“The RCGP has been campaigning for this allocation for three-and-a-half years with the support of patients and practitioners,'' he added.

“Other health organisations have made their own arguments for increasing funding and the clear majority of MSPs in Holyrood are also behind the move.

“Whereas in 2005/06, general practice received 9.8% of NHS Scotland spending, that percentage was consistently cut over the decade and by 2015/16 it had fallen to 7.2%.

“Against the backdrop of increasing demand on our service from the growing population, the situation was unsustainable.

“Put simply, the crisis the profession finds itself in requires appropriate funding to solve.”

He added: “We look forward to seeing how and when these extra funds will be delivered and would be delighted to work with all partners to offer suggestions for its use.”