The next three years will be ‘absolutely pivotal’ for the future of general practice, the leader of Scotland’s GPs warned today.

Iain Morrison, chair of the BMA Scottish GPs committee, called on the profession to work together to demonstrate that general practice should be at the heart of necessary reform to the NHS.

Speaking in Aberdeen at the annual conference of Scottish local medical committees, he outlined a vision of the future where GPs are supported to manage as many people as possible in a community setting, delivering for local populations, and reducing health inequalities.

‘Only through continuity of care can those ideals be met, and continuity can only exist where there is capacity to provide it,’ he said. ‘We must work toward a future where we see substantially more GPs in long term positions meeting the needs of their smaller list sizes. Let us make general practice in Scotland a vanguard in world health care.’

The conference is called Road to Recovery? and is being held against a background of some optimism. Last month SGPC agreed a deal with the Scottish Government which will bring more than £500m to general practice over the next three years. It came after SGPC launched a funding restoration campaign, warning that general practice’s share of the overall health budget had fallen to 6.2 per cent, compared with 11 per cent in 2008.

Vital few years

Dr Morrison said the new funding allows GPs to take a step in the right direction – and urged GPs to get on board.

‘The next three years are absolutely pivotal to the future of our profession. If we demonstrate that this significant investment can allow us to create safe, sustainable careers and give opportunity for iterative, fully resourced changes to accept more care delivery at home and in the community, we can continue to reshape the focus of government and put general practice right at the heart of the future reforms of the NHS that are needed.

'This investment can be the start of a much brighter future, with a move toward 11 per cent of NHS Scotland’s spend by the end of the next parliament and 15 per cent in the parliament after. However, if we do not seize the opportunity, to use our autonomy to celebrate our own profession, build safe and sustainable careers by expanding the GP workforce, the confidence we have worked so hard to build will be lost.’

GPs from across Scotland are attending the conference, which will also hear from health secretary Neil Gray, who is expected to speak at 9am.

But despite the funding deal, GPs are expected to debate contentious issues, including premises, recruitment and retention, GP funding and remuneration, workload, and the interface between primary and secondary care. (The full agenda can be found here)

AI in practice

In particular, they will debate a call for a national premises plan that ensures reimbursement for all practices; they will ask for action on the growing recruitment crisis; and they will also discuss a call from Tayside LMC to ‘deplore the systematic destruction of general practice by government resulting from inadequate funding’.

Technology – including artificial intelligence – is also on the agenda, and GPs will debate a call to support the use of AI in general practice, for example, in transcribing notes. They will also discuss the need to implement digital prescribing fully across NHS Scotland by April 2027.

GPs are also expected to debate a motion on private providers put by Glasgow LMC, which claims that Scotland now has a two-tier health system which is increasing health inequalities and putting GPs in an impossible situation.

Nevertheless, Dr Morrison is calling on GPs to pull together to realise the profession’s true potential, and not waste the opportunity of the new funding deal. ‘It is incumbent upon us to show the independent contractor model is one that can be trusted to deliver, as it has done for generations and can do for the future generations of Scotland,’ he concluded.

‘Let’s talk up our job and encourage new GPs to join us, Let's inspire the doctors of tomorrow to choose general practice and lets welcome GPs from the rest of the UK and around the world. And let us be proud to be GPs once more, delivering quality care to the people we serve.’