GP practices to receive £15m funding boost in bid to improve service capacity and support staff

The health secretary has announced £15m in funding for GP practices in Scotland in a bid to improve services.

The funding will aim to support staff and ensure more roles are recruited, while allowing practices to build up capacity and support the day-to-day running of services.

Neil Gray said: “We have been listening carefully to the views of Scotland’s GPs and as a result, I am pleased to confirm an initial additional investment of £15m for the current financial year.”

The funding announcement comes after discussions with the sector about the sustainability of GP services.

The Scottish Government said negotiations will continue around further support to “help shift care from acute to community”.

“This new funding will help support capacity and ensure GPs and services in the community have the resources they need for their essential role in our health system”, Gray added.

“We remain in negotiations with the sector on the provision of further support in the future, but this initial instalment demonstrates this Government’s commitment to supporting primary care and alleviating current pressures on the system.

“We want to make it easier for people to see their GP and to achieve this we are working towards ensuring a greater proportion of new NHS funding goes to primary and community care.

‘Funding gap remains’

BMA Scotland welcomed the news – but said a near-£300m funding gap remains and that GPs are still facing a considerable funding shortfall.

Dr Iain Morrison, chairman of BMA Scotland’s GP committee, said: “We welcome this immediate investment to help alleviate some of the recruitment and retention issues plaguing GP practices and harming patients’ access to healthcare.

“We see this as a positive move by Government to acknowledge the issues we have described in our ongoing negotiations to rescue general practice.

“Our negotiations continue with a view to stabilising and then improving GP services across the nation.

“General practice in Scotland has seen funding erosion and cost pressures generate a funding gap of £290m, which we must see restored.

“It is only by closing this substantial gap that patients will see long term, sustainable improvements in access to GPs and the care we are able to provide to them.

“On that basis, we urge the Scottish Government to build on this and come forward with a substantial offer of new long-term funding that will put general practice in Scotland on a more sustainable footing.

“General practice can offer so much more that it is able to currently. Only with substantial investment can we realise the potential and give the people of Scotland the service they deserve.”