Scottish Labour has promised to negotiate a ‘revised’ GP contract, should the party win the elections next year.
The party pledged to open negotiations within the first hundred days of a Scottish Labour government at Holyrood.
While the 2018 GP contract was ‘well intentioned’ with the aim of modernising primary care, it has ‘simply failed’ to deliver, the party added.
The revised contract would be drawn up in ‘negotiations with GPs’ and would include:
- A reinstatement of advance booking
- The ‘guarantee’ that patients can be seen by GPs within 48 hours
- A plan to improve continuity of care
- Measures to ’empower and incentivise’ GPs to help Scots to live healthier lives and support the prevention agenda
Scottish Labour said that these measures will ‘improve triaging’ so patients can be treated ‘quicker and more efficiently’, and offer ‘greater’ continuity of care for patients with frailty or chronic conditions.
The party’s health spokesperson Jackie Baillie said: ‘Scottish Labour will renegotiate the GP contract so it delivers for patients and GPs and ensures that anyone who needs to can be seen within 48 hours. Our NHS needs a new direction and Scottish Labour is ready to deliver it.’
However, the BMA’s GP committee for Scotland said that proposals to improve access will not be achievable without a plan on how to increase capacity, including more ‘direct investment’ into general practice.
GPC chair Dr Iain Morrison said: ‘There is no doubt GPs in Scotland are facing huge challenges in reduced resources, higher costs and increased demands, which is impacting on patients who can face difficulties in timely access.
‘Any recognition of the urgent need to tackle these challenges is welcome, but proposals to improve access will not be achievable without there being a plan on how to increase capacity, and this must include more direct investment into General Practice.
“A properly resourced General Practice can deliver for the people of Scotland and is a necessity to securing a sustainable NHS. We look forward to seeing the detail, especially around appropriate resourcing and how we can employ more GPs to serve Scotland’s needs.”
In response to the announcement, RCGP Scotland chair Dr Chris Provan said that this approach was welcome as it is ‘clear’ that the current pressures facing general practice are ‘not sustainable’.
He said: ‘General practice has faced years of under-investment while demand for services has risen, and the number of GPs in Scotland continues to fall year on year.
‘Without significant action to address these challenges we are concerned that a 48-hour access guarantee for patients will be almost impossible to deliver. GPs are as frustrated as their patients when there are difficulties in accessing a GP appointment.
‘RCGP supports efforts to make meaningful improvements so patients can see the right clinician at the right time, but asking GPs to deliver more appointments places GPs and primary care staff under greater pressure and risks poorer quality care for our patients.
‘The best way to deliver improved patient access and care would be to provide the level of investment needed to overcome the impact of cumulative years of underfunding and the implementation of a meaningful workforce strategy to increase the number of whole-time equivalent GPs.’
Last month, the Scottish Government announced that it is planning to allocate an extra £10.5m to general practice as part of a shift to more community-based care.
It comes after Scotland’s GP leaders outlined a list of demands for the Government to meet in order to avoid industrial action, including GPs receiving 15% of the NHS budget and long-term contract reforms.
Scottish LMCs representatives had previously voted in favour of balloting the profession on industrial action, as a result of ‘years of disinvestment in general practice’ with financial cuts opposed to uplifts to GP partners pay.
During the LMCs conference at the end of last year, health secretary Neil Gray announced an additional £13.6m to go directly into core GMS this financial year.
