Primary care in Scotland is at breaking point, Scottish Labour
has warned today, as chaos in Scotland’s A&E departments and
difficulties getting a GP appointment have caused the number of
Scots seeking out of hours care to skyrocket.
Compared to pre-pandemic figures, there have been over 93,000
more out of hours primary care consultations this year alone –
this is a shocking increase of 16%.
It has also increased by a stark 4% in just one year compared to
2022.
For months now, Scottish Labour has raised the alarm on the
crisis in A&E and the parlous situation in primary care as
patients struggle to access a GP appointment.
At the same time, a GP feedback survey on primary care reform has
laid bare this SNP Government’s failure to deliver on its promise
of rolling out multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) across Scotland.
Fewer than two in five GPs who responded to the survey felt that
they had sufficient access to the different MDT staff groups,
which includes mental health workers, pharmacists,
physiotherapists and urgent care staff.
This chaos comes with winter approaching quickly, and Scottish
Labour has called for immediate action to be taken to ensure the
situation does not get any worse.
Commenting, Scottish Labour Health Spokesperson said: “After 16
disastrous years of the SNP, Scotland’s primary care services
have been pushed to breaking point.
“Patients are unable to get the GP appointments or the care that
they need, putting increased pressure on already stretched out of
hours services.
“The fact that so many people are being forced into out of hours
care to actually get treatment is a damning indictment of the
state of our health service.
“Hardworking staff are being pushed to their limits and the SNP
has offered nothing but warm words in return.
“Michael Matheson should spend less time dodging accountability
and more time investing in primary care to ensure patients are
able to get the help they need, when they need it.”
ENDS
Notes:
- There has been an increase in the total number of OOH PC
consultations in the first six months of 2023 compared to 2022
(up 4%); this is notably higher than pre-pandemic OOH PC
consultations (16% higher than the same period in 2019).
- More recent trend data on comparison of A&E attendances
to OOH PC consultations looks markedly different to older
historical patterns (January 2017 to February 2020)
https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/out-of-hours-primary-care-services-in-scotland/out-of-hours-primary-care-services-in-scotland-1-april-2014-to-31-august-2023/
https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/primary-care-reform-gp-feedback-survey/primary-care-reform-gp-feedback-survey/
