A senior Tayside GP has warned that some practices in Dundee are one retirement away from having to hand back the keys to the NHS.
Dr Andrew Cowie, chairman of Tayside Local Medical Committee and a GP at Hawkhill Medical Centre, was speaking after Lochee Health Centre was taken over by the NHS Tayside due to staffing problems.
As things stand, there are seven positions for GPs being advertised in Dundee only three fewer than in August, when it was claimed the city’s GP services were in “crisis” in the city due to shortages.
Dr Cowie said: “At the moment, some of them are ticking along but they are one practitioner away from having to close. A lot of them are small practices with three or four GPs, so if they lose one then it can become instantly unmanageable.
“The new GPs tend to apply in August and September that is when practices will be advertising to see if they can get positions filled.
“Some practices are keeping going in the hope that they will be able to recruit then, but I have actually been told that of the current crop, not one of them wanted to sign up to be a GP partner, which I find extremely worrying.”
Dr Cowie said the GP contract puts many medics off. He added: “It is a big commitment 50 hours a week for 50 weeks of the year although it isn’t as much of a problem if you can get people to share the load.
“The issue is if you lose a practitioner you are still obligated to provide the service people can retire at any time.
“If you can’t recruit, you are left with a contract that you can’t fulfil, and that is when we see people handing back the contract to the NHS.”
A NHS Tayside spokeswoman said: “As GPs are independent contractors, it is their responsibility to provide service continuity and they are not required to inform us of any vacancies they have.
“NHS Tayside continues to work with practices to try to predict any workforce issues to help support them to plan community health services for the future.”