How SNP's GP walk-in centres have been exposed as the waste of time and money GPs warned they would be
The GP walk-in centre in Dundee had an average of just three visits a day
The SNP trumpeted new GP walk-in centres as the answer to the difficulties faced by many patients in getting an appointment to see their doctor – one of the most alarming symptoms of the NHS’s potentially terminal malaise. GPs, on the other hand, warned the scheme was not going to work.
Now we have the first figures, and it will surprise no one that the experts were right and the SNP were wrong.
Dr Chris Provan, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners in Scotland, summed up the findings: “The data shows that the six GP walk-in centres that were fully operational in June delivered approximately 70 patient contacts per day. GPs and their teams across Scotland provide around 136,000 patient contacts every weekday.
“While the Scottish government presents walk-in centres as a solution to difficulties in accessing GP appointments, today's figures demonstrate their contribution to addressing the capacity challenges facing general practice is minimal.”
READ MORE: SNP walk-in GP clinics 'completely unaffordable' as experts call for evaluation of pilot project
Pathetic, appalling, scandalous
Asked if the SNP had put “politics over practicality”, Dr Iain Morrison, chair of the BMA’s Scottish GPs committee, said this appeared to be the case, noting the centres had been announced at a pre-election SNP conference and were introduced despite “huge swathes of the profession” having major concerns.
The walk-in centre in Dundee had an average of just three visits a day. What a pathetic, appalling and utterly scandalous waste of time and money. How can anyone defend this? It’s made all the worse by the fact that trials of similar centres in England 20 years ago demonstrated their ineffectiveness.
Yesterday we lambasted the SNP for introducing free school bags for every P1 pupil, whether they need one or not, when they could spend the money on relieving the pressure on teachers.
Today, we have no choice but to castigate them again. Saving the NHS is of vital importance to this country. Yet the politicians who hold its fate in their hands seem more interested in coming up with glib election promises that sound good but do little other than waste millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money.
Time for the SNP to own their mistake, and think again. Lives depend upon it.
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