The Herald today reports that the SNP’s recruitment drive for 100 trainee GPs has seen only 37 posts filled. Commenting on the report, Scottish Labour Health spokesperson Anas Sarwar said:
“Sticking plaster solutions to the SNP GP crisis won’t work – we need to see a much more radical approach from Nationalist ministers.
New funding is welcome, but the test will not just be the money spent – it will be the number of new GPs recruited and retained, as well as saving local practices from closure and providing more auxiliary support services.
After a decade of SNP mismanagement, we now need to see real progress in primary care. That begins with the new GP contract but there are other reforms we need to see.
Labour would take the pressure off our family doctors and deliver better care for patients by expanding the role of pharmacies and rolling out the Minor Ailment Service across Scotland.
We know that not everyone who makes an appointment with their local surgery necessarily needs to see a GP. That is why we also need to see investment in specialist nurses and nurse practitioners, to make sure patients get the care they need from the most appropriate professional, freeing our GPs to focus on the cases for which they’re needed.”
And yet we still have a Scottish NHS rated higher than any other NHS in the UK.
Rated by who? The most authoritative study (Nuffield Trust) says it is difficult to compare systems, but ranks NHS England above NHS Scotland: http://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/sites/files/nuffield/revised_4_countries_report.pdf
37 positions filled “SO FAR”. Was there a specific time frame for recruiting 100? Was it over the term of Parliament by any chance?
Mike,
More lies. This relates to 100 posts which were advertised in August. Maybe Sturgeon shouldn’t have cut GP training when she was Health Sec?
How can a question be a lie?
She didn’t cut GP training. A decision like that would be taken at Local authority level.
Cant stop with the stupid bare faced lying.
If it relates to 100 posts in an advert then surely the advert had a closing date? Has it been reached yet or is the recruiting still ongoing?
The advert closed weeks ago.
Mike,
That’s another lie – Local Authorities are not responsible for GP training.
According to Labour drones such as yourself local Labour authorities have no responsibilities for anything.
Mike,
That’s quite a statement given that you just blindly tried to blame Local Authorities for a decision taken by the SNP.
Maybe you should start defending the NHS, not the SNP?
Anecodetal, I know, but I walked into my local GP’s yesterday around noon. I got an appointment for 8.30am the next day. I’ve had to visit the practice several times this year and they’ve never kept me waiting more than two or three days. This is even though I’ve asked them not to give me a particular doctor I don’t like. I also made a formal complaint relating to a separate matter and it was resolved to my satisfaction in less than three weeks.
If that’s how you define “crisis”, it cheapens the word. And doesn’t leave much room to describe the NHS in the rUK, under Hunt’s oversight.
You don’t appear to have understood that the issue highlighted here is not with those who already have a GP surgery, but those trying to register with one.
Labour hame is amazing. Only in this echo chamber is labour’s opinion still relevant. There’s enough room in this tiny bubble for what’s left of the people’s party. Yay
All the direct responses to this article are critical, so you claim the site is an “echo chamber”. Logic check needed.
Hud the phone!
http://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/education-and-training/by-discipline/medicine/general-practice.aspx
Says here:
“General Practitioners work across Scotland from busy urban practices to the remote and rural practices serving small scattered populations. It’s the one specialty that covers the whole population and a wide range of conditions and challenges every day. In Scotland we have 5000 GPs covering the whole of the country and have approx. 1000 in our training programmes across Scotland.”
NHS Scotland are saying there are at present “1000 IN OUR TRAINING PROGRAMS ACROSS SCOTLAND”.
AND THEN THERE IS THIS:
http://www.scotmt.scot.nhs.uk/recruitment/gp-recruitment.aspx
“Round 2 will commence in February 2017. Application window dates to be confirmed soonest.”
So it seems “Round 1” of a specific recruitment drive Labour somehow feels is relevant in referring to has recruited 37 GPs and “Round 2” will begin recruiting again in Feb 2017. So WTF are Labour whining about now? FUCK ALL! AS USUAL!
Once again we witness Labour in Scotland being unable to find anything genuine to complain about so they make up nothing to complain about.
And this is what they call opposition.
What is it going to take to wake these arseholes up? Getting overtaken by UKIP?
The news story relates specifically to these 100 places:
http://news.scotland.gov.uk/News/Drive-to-recruit-GP-trainees-2859.aspx
Note the closing date.