Enough is Enough: Scottish GPs move into dispute with the Scottish Government
Below is a direct excerpt from BMA Scotland’s own blog. You can view the article directly here.
General Practice continues to face significant challenges in delivering the core services we so dearly want to protect for our patients. The ridiculous paradox of GP Partners having to look at what hours across the Practice can be reduced in order to balance the books, at a time of more demand on services than ever before must stop. The impact this is having on the locum market and job opportunities, especially for our newly qualified GPs is shockingly stark.
These are the exact reasons we have launched our Stand with your Surgery Campaign and called for £290m full funding restoration to come direct to GP practices. We need this funding, which has been eroded from what is provided to general practice since 2008, to stabilise the situation and employ more GPs to meet demand. It will provide the foundations from which we can then begin to look to a brighter future for our practices and our patients.
As part of that campaign, we want to thank all of you who took part in the funding and wellbeing survey which demonstrated just how much we are hurting. Half of practices are questioning their sustainability and 90% of the profession are willing to make a stand, and take disruptive action in response to the generation of neglect of GP services. The full results were shared with the Scottish GP Committee of the BMA who, on the back of the results and lack of progress in negotiations, voted unanimously to enter formal dispute with Scottish Government.
That is why today, the Scottish GPC has written to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and informed him we have entered into formal dispute with Scottish Government.
Legally, this is the next step in escalating our concerns in preparation for a ballot of the profession on taking disruptive action. I want to make it clear, no one wants this escalation to take place, and urgent talks with the Cabinet Secretary and Scottish Government continue to identify how they can work with us to provide full funding restoration and exit this dispute.
We have been told, time and time again, that resource must shift to the community, but with no attempt to even begin to plug the £290 million gap in 2025/26 the lack of action to support the rhetoric continues.
Indeed, the fact that they have proposed accepting the DDRB report but have within that proposal, chosen to neglect the true inflationary staff and non staff costs including that of the rise in Employer’s NI Contribution, means no Practice in Scotland will be able to deliver upon the recommendations without impacting on services or Partner’s bearing the cost, with little hope to realise the sub-inflationary pay uplift. Enough is enough.
To make your voice heard in the potential ballot on industrial action which may well now take place in the coming months, please join the BMA now. If you are a member please make sure your details are up to date so we can easily contact you when the time comes. Your support for the profession in this crucial time is essential. Together, we will forge a better future for general practice in Scotland.
Dr Iain Morrison, Chair BMA SGPC, Dr Chris Black, Deputy Chair BMA SGPC and Dr Al Miles, Deputy Chair BMA SGPC
