New British Medical Association Scotland Report Outlines The Way Ahead For General Practice

Main Category: Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 10 Feb 2010 - 0:00 PDT

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Unveiling a new policy document for the future of general practice in Scotland, BMA Scotland has called on Government to focus on policies that are evidence based and will improve patient care.

General Practice in Scotland: The Way Ahead is the result of a wide-ranging consultation process, during which the BMA invited the views of medical professionals, public, patients, NHS organisations and special interest groups on six key areas of general practice: access, out of hours care, health inequalities, workforce, balance of care and infrastructure (premises and information technology). The content of this policy document reflects views received as part of this process.

Key priorities highlighted in the report include:

- Local support teams should be created to help practices that are struggling to provide optimum levels of access for their patients.
- Changing the balance of care will only succeed if any shift in work from hospitals to general practice is planned and resourced.
- As the organisation of NHS 24 is devolved more locally, new standards for out of hours care should be developed.
- Workforce planning should reflect changing working patterns in general practice.
- General practice premises are essential, but undervalued, a return to ring-fenced funding is essential.

Introducing the report, Dr Dean Marshall, chairman of the BMA's Scottish General Practitioners Committee, said:

"General practice in Scotland is at a crossroads. The Scottish Parliament has demonstrated a commitment to the NHS by passing legislation to ban commercial companies from providing NHS GP services. We welcome this commitment to a publicly provided and delivered service, and believe that this signals an opportunity to develop a clear policy direction for the future of general practice in Scotland.

"General practice has seen great change in the last 30 years. It remains the cornerstone of the NHS and provides a comprehensive service where GPs provide care for patients from the cradle to the grave.

"From the responses we received to our consultation it is clear that the public values their local GP. It is also true that GPs are passionate about their work and hugely committed to their communities, however they are finding it difficult to cope with their rising workload while preserving what patients value most - the time to talk to their doctor.

"We are publishing this report during the first ever Scottish general practice week, an event to celebrate the best of NHS general practice. I call on the Government and politicians from across the political spectrum to consider the recommendations in this report and work with us to make Scottish general practice the best it can be, now and in the future."

Source
The British Medical Association

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