Next Government must urgently address GP underemployment, says BMA Scotland

The BMA in Scotland has called on the next Government to address ‘the complete lack of workforce planning’ which has led to GP underemployment.

In its manifesto for the upcoming Scottish Parliament election taking place on 7 May, the union has called for all parties to commit to a new long-term workforce plan for the NHS in Scotland, citing GP under employment as one of the key issues for the profession.

It also said that the new Scottish Government should commit to having one full-time GP per 1,000 patients, and that 11% of the total NHS budget should be spent on general practice by the end of the next Parliament.

It said there should be a ‘clear, detailed plan’ on shifting the balance of care to better support GPs and care closer to home while maintaining and supporting secondary care as the transition takes place.

The document said: ‘The country faces high consultant vacancy rates as well as the counterintuitive and disgraceful position of underemployed GPs and resident doctors unable to secure specialty training places and facing unemployment.

‘These are the most obvious symptoms of the complete lack of workforce planning that has held back our NHS for far too long.

‘BMA Scotland calls for all parties to commit to delivering a coherent, longterm workforce plan for the NHS in Scotland to address the escalating pressures across the medical profession.’

It added that ‘for far too long’ the proportion of the health budget provided to GPs ‘has been shrinking’, with the focus remaining on hospitals and acute care.

It said: ‘GPs occupy a unique position as the main point of contact for patients in Scotland and are how we typically access our NHS.

‘They can provide continuity of care, keeping the patients who they know well healthier for longer, manage multiple morbidities and prevent unnecessary hospital admissions.

‘With the proportion of the health budget provided to general practice having slipped to 6.7%, political choices must see this return to 11% by the end of the next Parliament and 15% in the Parliament after. There is no shortage of evidence of the transformative benefits such investment delivers.’

It comes as GP practices in Scotland have recently been told they are to choose from a ‘menu’ of workforce options in order access additional funding and ‘enhance GP capacity’, as part of a deal between the Government and the BMA.

The Scottish Government has been clear that the new funding is ‘not a pay award’ and that ‘pay will be managed separately’.

Due to the Scottish Parliament election, a decision on the recent 3.5% DDRB recommendation will not be taken in Scotland until after a new government has been formed.

The BMA manifesto added that the next Scottish Government must do ‘far better than the DDRB
recommendations’ and instead to commit to substantive talks on improving pay and working conditions.

BMA Scotland chair Dr Iain Kennedy said: ‘The NHS will once again be at the heart of this election, with lengthy waiting times and waiting lists, difficulties in accessing GPs and a growing number of people being forced to turn to private healthcare frequently in the headlines.

‘BMA Scotland has consistently warned that without action, the founding principle of the NHS, that it should be free at the point of use, is at risk.

‘We are clear that the NHS must not just been seen as a way to win the votes of the public in the short-term. Too often, solutions offered to the problems the health service faces do no more than tinker at the edges or seek to grab attention rather than deliver real results.

‘What is needed is for politicians to put political difference aside and urgently agree and deliver serious long-term and radical reform that finally makes our NHS sustainable and indeed world leading for generations to come.’