BMA Scotland chairman warns NHS ‘cannot survive’ in current form

The chairman of a doctors’ union has warned there is “no way that the NHS in Scotland can survive” in its current form as he renewed his calls for a national conversation on the future of the service.

Dr Iain Kennedy, chairman of the British Medical Association in Scotland, issued the warning on Wednesday, and said his NHS colleagues had told him over the past fortnight the “whole health and social care system in Scotland is broken”.

“There is no way that the NHS in Scotland can survive.

“In fact, many of my members are telling me that the NHS in Scotland has died already,” he told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme.

“It’s already broken in some parts of the country. So the time is now, we need the national conversation now, it cannot be delayed any further.”

He told BBC Scotland he will meet Health Secretary Humza Yousaf in the New Year.

Dr Kennedy said the Scottish Government was “well off” the 800 GPs it wanted to recruit by 2027, and that the number of vacancies for hospital doctors was also high.

He said there had been an “abject failure of workforce planning” and health staff were “exhausted, burnt-out and broken”.

“Over the past two weeks I have received testimonies from nearly 200 doctors, and what they’re telling me is that the whole health and social care system in Scotland is broken,” he said.

“They are telling me that NHS Scotland is failing their patients and failing the workforce, and they’re suffering from moral injury from constantly having to apologise to their patients.”

He said the number of vacancies in the health service was the worst he had seen in his 30-year career as a doctor.

Junior doctors in Scotland are preparing for industrial action as part of their demand for higher pay, and Dr Kennedy said their pay had “eroded by 23.5% since 2008”.

“They’ve had enough, they’ve told us that they’ve had enough, and they’ve been trying to get action from the Scottish Government but their requests are falling on deaf ears,” he said.

Dr Kennedy said while junior doctors in England were taking part in a strike ballot in January, north of the border it would be in the spring.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The situation we find ourselves in is the result of pandemic backlogs, Brexit-related staff shortages and increases in winter viruses such as flu which have seen a significant rise in the last few weeks – making this winter the most challenging the NHS has ever faced. This is, of course, not unique to Scotland.

“Scotland has record numbers of NHS staff and we are recruiting more staff as part of our £600 million winter plan and £50 million investment is targeting A&E waits through services that allow patients to be treated at home or in the community.

“We have a record number of GPs working in Scotland and are committed to 800 additional GPs by end 2027, and despite the pandemic, we have recruited 3,220 whole-time-equivalent healthcare professionals to provide support to GPs, underpinned by an investment commitment of over £500 million.

“We know the difficulties staff are facing and want to repeat our thanks to all those working across all health and social care services this winter to make sure people receive the care they need.”