Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP: 'Patients are waiting while ministers profit'
While practice staff are overwhelmed and patients grow desperate, a revolving door of SNP health secretaries have shuffled through office, out of their depth, armed with spin instead of solutions. When they do act, they fail to deliver.
The GP contract was meant to reduce rising workload by bringing in wider support teams. Instead, seven years on, those teams never arrived, and GPs have been abandoned, forced to manage workforce shortages on their own. And amid the chaos which has left practices on the brink of collapse, SNP ministers still found time to give themselves a £20,000 pay rise.
This isn't a hypothetical crisis – it's unfolding every day across Greater Glasgow and Clyde. There are now fewer than 232 GP surgeries serving more than 1.3 million people. Nearly a third of those practices have at least one GP vacancy. Many GPs are now responsible for 1400 patients, well above the national average.
Patients are told to call back again and again. Some wait more than a week for an appointment. Urgent care is often delayed. And while patients wait in phone queues, health is quietly deteriorating.
And here's the madness: all of this is happening at the same time as qualified GPs – trained in Scotland, ready to work – can't find a job, they're unemployed or, quite literally, driving Ubers to make ends meet. That's not just wasteful, it's unforgivable.
It is SNP mismanagement in its purest form: desperate need on one side, underused expertise on the other – and absolutely no grip from those in charge.
I declare an interest: I'm a practising NHS GP. Every week, I see the toll this takes on patients and on staff. I was also co-chair of BMA Scotland's GP Trainees Committee. I know the reality on the ground. I know what it feels like when the printer breaks, the phones jam and your last patient of the day needs more than 10 minutes. And I know what it's like when the Government is nowhere to be seen.
The SNP once promised 800 more GPs by 2027. Instead, the number has dropped – from 4514 in 2022 to 4438 last year.
They failed to plan for retirements. Failed to retain newly qualified GPs. And failed to create posts for the very doctors they trained.
The Scottish Conservatives offer a serious alternative. We would prioritise training places for Scottish-domiciled students – those most likely to stay and serve. We would guarantee NHS jobs for Scotland-trained graduates, and we would increase the GP budget, ring-fencing funds to boost appointment access and keep practices open.
We also propose a seven day a week GP-led service, backed by expanded NHS24 capacity and digital tools that cut bureaucracy, not care. These are real solutions to ease pressure on hospitals and ensure patients get timely treatment.
This is what happens when policy is shaped by people who've actually done the job.
Meanwhile, SNP ministers focus on headlines, not healthcare. Three health secretaries since the last Holyrood election. Promises made, promises missed and patients left behind.
But this can be turned around. With real leadership, general practice can recover. It starts by listening to those on the front line – and finally putting patients first.
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