Ross to unveil Tory plans to deliver 1,000 extra GPs

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross is set to unveil how his party will deliver 1,000 more GPs to save Scotland’s NHS from “breaking point”.

The plans will be set out as a key proposal in the party’s policy paper on health on Friday.

Under the plans, patients will be given a guarantee of seeing a family doctor within a week by raising the proportion of NHS funding going to GP services by 12%.

The patient guarantee will also sanction health boards which exceed maximum waiting times for certain procedures.

Additional proposals include banning the closure of any NHS facility unless its replacement has been confirmed.

Mr Ross is set to reveal the plans alongside the party’s health spokesman, GP Dr Sandesh Gulhane.

The Tory leader is expected to accuse First Minister Humza Yousaf and former health secretary Michael Matheson of presiding over a “permanent crisis” in the NHS.

Mr Matheson resigned from the post on Thursday.

The Scottish Government currently aims to increase the number of GPs by at least 800 by 2028.

Mr Ross will say: “We can all see the cracks in a system that is well past breaking point.

“Despite the best efforts of hardworking staff, one in seven Scots – over 800,000 people – are on an NHS waiting list.

“Performance in A&E, cancer, mental health and delayed discharge have all hit record lows in recent years, and more staff are now leaving the service than joining it.

“Our health service is in permanent crisis. Yet the SNP Government offer no vision to turn around the NHS’s fortunes.

“Humza Yousaf is the architect of a flimsy recovery plan that has seen standards fall across our health service since the Covid pandemic – and not get any better.”

Mr Ross is expected to say that 86 local health facilities have closed since 2012 in favour of increased centralisation.

He said his party would “make unacceptable waits just to see your GP a thing of the past”.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We remain fully committed to increasing the number of GPs in Scotland and will invest over £1.2 billion in General Medical Services in 2023-24 to ensure more people get the right care in the right place at the right time.

“Scotland has a higher number of GPs per head than the rest of the UK, and a record 1,200 trainee GPs coming through the training system in Scotland.”

The Government added: “In the face of UK Government austerity, we are providing over £14.2 billion for NHS boards in 2024-25 to support services – a real-terms increase of almost 3%. Despite this significant investment, NHS boards, like other public services, are under unprecedented pressure as a result of inflation, Brexit and Covid and we are continuing to work with each board to recover and reform services and address the financial challenge this year and beyond.”