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Protestors campaign for health board to hire more GPs

Patients of a practice in Dundee have staged a protest outside the surgery building, calling for the health board to hire more GPs for the practice.

Members of campaign group ’Invest in Lochee Health Centre’ have called for NHS Tayside to guarantee that at least three full time GPs will be employed by the practice, saying that having just one full time GP at Lochee is a ‘disgrace’.

The campaign group says this is a problem across the city.

Event organiser Leah Ganley told the Courier: ’I think sometimes politicians and those running things think places with poorer health conditions will let things lie and might not be as vocal as people in other communities.

’But we’re here to show them we are going to be and that we are going to stand up for services in Lochee.’

A spokesperson for NHS Tayside said, ‘All boards across Scotland continue to face challenges to recruit GPs and NHS Tayside is no exception.

“NHS Tayside continues to invest in Lochee Health Centre to secure sustainable service provision and is committed to investing in a model of care with an extended multidisciplinary team of healthcare professionals that will see the local community benefit from more effective, patient-centred care.

“The health centre has been operating with a pool of experienced locum GPs, supported by nursing and pharmacy colleagues to ensure the delivery of healthcare services to its registered patients.

The Scottish Government announced in January that a Lochee practice would become the first to be placed under the control of a social services manager, alongside health managers.

All regions of Scotland were expected to put in place ‘integration joint boards’ – comprising NHS board managers and social services managers – in place by April, to ensure that health and social care services work closer together, share resources and become more efficient.