Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Fife councillor calls on Government to tackle ‘looming’ GP crisis

In a survey, more than a third of Fifes GPs said their workload was unmanageable.
In a survey, more than a third of Fifes GPs said their workload was unmanageable.

A senior Fife councillor has called on the Scottish Government to tackle what he called Scotland’s looming GP crisis.

More than a third of Fife’s GPs say their workload is unmanageable and 42% said they would not choose to be a GP again if given the choice.

The staggering revelations came in replies to a survey sent by the Liberal Democrats and analysed in the paper, The Crisis in Scottish Primary Healthcare (PDF link).

Among the responses of 389 GPs, were those of 38 in Fife.

Councillor Tim Brett, leader of Fife Council’s Liberal Democrats, said the results were damning.

“More than one in three local doctors who responded to the survey said their workload was unmanageable,” he said.

“Sixty per cent would prefer to abolish the Quality Outcomes Framework of the contract and two-thirds of the remainder want it reduced.

“Forty-two per cent of respondents stated that they would not choose to be a GP again if given the choice.”

He added: “This report highlights the real pressure faced by local doctors here in Fife.

“It is to be regretted that the Scottish Government was unaware of the looming crisis in primary care and appears to continue to deny the existence of any crisis.”

Mr Brett, a former chief executive of NHS Tayside, said the Scottish Liberal Democrats support the Royal College of GPs’ plan for change.

“It addresses funding, infrastructure, IT, the GP contract, recruitment and integrated care,” he said.

“All of these are measures which must be considered by government immediately and urgently if we are to alleviate pressure on doctors in Fife.”

Of the 38 GPs who replied to the survey in Fife, 14 said their workload was unmanageable, 23 backed the abolition of the Quality and Outcomes Framework and 13 were unaware of the Scottish Government’s primary care plan.

Of the 25 respondents aware of the plan, 17, said it was not sufficient to address the challenges. Sixteen respondents said they would not choose to become a GP again if given the choice.

The report was issued as another set of figures suggested nearly half of all junior doctors who train in Scotland leave the country or profession within five years of qualifying.