Funding cuts causing A&E crisis

The amount spent on vital out-of-hours GPs is being slashed despite fears A&E waiting times are reaching crisis point.

The equivalent of £2.7m has been cut from vital evening and weekend GP services in Scotland over the past five years.

Medical experts say the cuts have resulted in soaring numbers of patients swamping beleaguered A&E wards with minor ailments.

Last week, critics claimed A&E units were in crisis after the Government intervened at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, which has missed waiting times targets.

The spending slump has emerged just weeks after the Scottish Government announced a major review into out-of-hours GP care amid claims it is facing severe pressure.

Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jenny Marra said: “Last December, the SNP’s Shona Robison told Scots only to go to A&E if they absolutely had to. She told Scots to go to their out-of-hours GP services.

“Now, with Scotland’s A&E wards in crisis, we find out that the SNP Government has cut spending in real terms on out-of-hours GP services. The pressure on our NHS is mounting and it is patients, families and hardworking NHS staff who are suffering as a result.”

The Scottish figures have revealed that, during 2013/14, £78,773,000 was spent on out-of-hours GP care.

But in 2009/10, £75,528,000 was spent which analysts said is equivalent to £81,490,000 in real terms equating to a 3.3% cut.

Royal College of GPs Scotland chairman, Dr Miles Mack, said: “This cut sadly highlights, yet again, that GPs are being asked to do more and more for less and less.

“It is no surprise that continued cuts to funding have left us with the crisis we face today.”

In 2004, a UK GP contract allowed individual GP practices to opt out of covering out-of-hours care, with health boards taking over responsibility for provision.

The out-of-hours figures come amid a growing furore surrounding a proposed shake-up at NHS Lanarkshire. Health bosses have already closed an out-of-hours service in Cumbernauld and they want to close the service at Wishaw General Hospital and may replace them with just one single site in Hamilton to serve the whole area.

Dr Andrew Buist, the deputy chairman of the Scottish GPs committee of the British Medical Association, said an inability to recruit GPs is one of the reasons less has been spent on the service.

He said: “These services are running without their full complement of doctors on shifts, so it is very hard. One board on the night shift had half the number of doctors they ought to have.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said: “The Scottish Government is completely committed to protecting health board funding to ensure they are in a position to meet challenges such as providing out-of-hours primary care.

“Indeed health spending will rise to more than £12bn next year.

“However, our NHS is now facing different challenges from a decade ago, which is why earlier this month we announced we will be reviewing these services to ensure they continue to deliver sustainable, high quality, safe and effective care.”