Angus patients 'let down' by lack of planning

Friockheim Health Centre closed earlier this year after its remaining GP retired, and no replacements could be recruited. (Wallace Ferrier)

Tess White underlined the plight of understaffed health centres with Scottish Ministers during a recent Holyrood debate on out-of-hours GP care.

The Scottish Conservative MSP told cabinet secretary Humza Yousaf that under-recruitment in Scotland has resulted in the closure of Friockheim health centre, and created difficulties at Brechin.

She said: “Kemnay Medical Group in Aberdeenshire has lost four GPs. In the Kemnay community newsletter, staff from the surgery described a ‘creaking system where the pressures on clinicians have continued to grow, the demand for our time has rocketed and political promises of help have failed to materialise.

“They added that the national GP shortage is felt across Scotland, but ‘particularly in the north-east.

“Brechin Medical Practice, for example, is surviving with two GPs and regular locums at significant cost.

“Inverbervie Medical Practice is struggling to meet demand.”

Referring to the situation at Friockheim, whose medical practice closed earlier this year, Ms White added: “Some surgeries haven’t survived at all.

“People in the North East and across Scotland are paying the price for years of poor workforce planning by the SNP government. Now this government is playing catch-up, pledging 800 GPs by 2027 ‘in various phases’.

“But it’s abundantly clear the NHS needs more GPs now to fill existing vacancies and to cope with increasing workload demands.”

Mr Yousaf said that his government would increase the number of face-to-face appointments to help meet demand.

He said: “I get it from constituents, family members, friends of mine. And I know that has been an issue particularly in the teeth of this pandemic and the really difficult phases of this pandemic.

“There were real challenges accessing GPs. There are still challenges and I raised this issue when I met with Dr Kennedy this morning, the new chair of the BMA.He absolutely accepted that we will work collaboratively to increase where clinically appropriate, more face-to-face.”