Scotland’s under-pressure GP services need a “complete revolution”, Health Secretary Shona Robison has said.
Launching the Scottish Government’s conversation on the long term future of health and social care services in Dundee, the City East MSP spelled out her vision for a more community-based approach with direct access to NHS services.
It comes after Labour called figures revealing the number of patients registered at an “understaffed” GP practice is at least two million a “crisis”.
Ms Robison told attendees: “There is absolutely a demand on our GP services at the moment. GPs are not terribly happy with the type of work they are doing, we are not getting enough doctors going into general practice.
“So one of the things we want to discuss with you and the wider public is: what is the future of primary care? I think there is an opportunity and the time is right for a complete revolution in primary care.”
Representatives from the Scottish Government, NHS, care sector, charities, patient groups and the third sector came together in a caf conversation-style event hosted by national third sector health and social care organisation, the Alliance for the “conversation”, at the city’s Deaf Hub.
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said: “The time is past for languorous discussion, the challenge facing Scotland’s NHS is huge and urgent.”
For the full story, see Wednesday’s Courier.