Scottish practices are to get funding to modernise phone systems alongside new support to bring in a range of healthcare professionals, it has been announced. The Scottish government announced a total of £82.6 million to expand teams within practices and “modernise systems.” It says that new clinicians will include pharmacists and nurses to assist with…

Practices in a region of Scotland have been ordered to suspend all routine services and concentrate on the most serious cases. The “black alert” will remain in place in NHS Lanarkshire for up to four weeks, it was announced. Practices will focus on the most urgent and “time critical” care, the organisation said. It said…

Practices in Scotland have contact with a tenth of the country’s population weekly, according to a new survey highlighting the pressures on services. More than 40% of practices responded to a British Medical Association survey, which found that 28% are short of at least one GP. Some 42% said demand ‘substantially’ exceeds their capacity –…

Staff in most Scottish practices have faced abuse in the last month – with patient behaviour deteriorating in the last year, according to the findings of a survey published today. The British Medical Association survey found a significant majority of GPs reporting themselves at “breaking point” and ready for early retirement. Some 663 GPs completed…

Practices need more mental health specialists, both for patients and for staff, according to senior Scottish GPs. The proposal headlines manifesto launched by the Royal College of GPs for the elections to the Scottish parliament in May. The college reported big concerns among GPs about the increase in mental health problems since the beginning of…

GP leaders have reacted in dismay to a Scottish parliamentary report pressing for extended opening hours for practices. Scottish parliamentarians said they were calling for a “radical revision” of primary care – but their proposals reopened the long-running controversy from the last decade about claims that practice opening times are unfriendly for patients. The report…

The country should learn from its mistakes and be ready to learn lessons from overseas the next time a novel pandemic threatens the world, according to members of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The college’s proposals come from a group of public health doctors and epidemiologists who are members of the college. A…