Cut to sustainability funding for GPs is ‘betrayal’, say doctors

GPs in Scotland are being “betrayed” by the Scottish Government’s failure to fulfil its promise of £15 million of sustainability payments, a doctors’ union has said.

The Scottish Government had previously committed to allocating the funds over 2022/23 in order to help medical practices manage workload concerns.

Some £15 million was also allocated to cover the 2021/22 period, meaning the package was originally supposed to be worth £30 million.

However, an update from the Primary Care Directorate to GPs and Health Board Directors has said budget pressures mean just £10 million can be allocated for practices.

Dr Andrew Buist, chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) Scottish GP Committee, said the decision could lead to “dire consequences” for patients.

He said the BMA group was not informed that £5 million had been cut from the funding and the decision “undermines” the agreement made between the organisation and the Scottish Government.

And the decision “is not in any way acceptable” as he told members the BMA was exploring its options on how to tackle the issue.

Medical practices, he said, would have taken the promise at “face value” and already put plans in place to use the funding to make staffing decisions and extend services for patients.

It comes as Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said the healthcare sector is facing an extremely challenging winter period.

In his letter, Dr Buist said: “This is a critical time for general practice in Scotland as we face the twin threats of practice workloads reaching breaking point and spiralling operating costs threatening the sustainability of practices.

“Failure to support general practice now could have dire consequences for patient care across Scotland.”

Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour health spokesperson said GP surgeries are being “short-changed”.

She said: “This is nothing short of a betrayal of frontline GPs and the communities that they serve.

“We face a massive winter crisis in our NHS, but this SNP Government is slashing the support available to GPs.

“We know what this short-changing will mean – increased pressures on GP practices and people missing out on much needed medical help.

“The SNP Government cannot continue to treat Scotland’s GPs with such dangerous disregard.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “This winter is going to be one of the most challenging for the NHS.

“To support GP practices, we have recruited more than 3,220 healthcare professionals since 2018 and are committed to investing at least £170 million a year on growing primary care multi-disciplinary teams.

“We have invested a further £25 million in multi-disciplinary teams over the last two years to help GPs sustain a high level of patient care.

“However rising inflation has had a significant impact on government costs and budgets, but we are supporting GPs with all the direct funding we can to ease winter pressures.”