GPs in England get £2.4bn funding boost, will Scottish general practice see similar investment?

With the protection of the junior doctor contract and the abolition of the overly complicated QOF system of GP funding, the Scottish Government has been able to portray itself as the friend of the doctor in recent times.

However, yesterday’s announcement by NHS England of a £2.4bn funding boost for GP services south of the border puts a new and not insignificant pressure on the next Scottish Government to deliver something similar.

Unveiling the plan, NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said: "GPs are by far the largest branch of British medicine and as a recent British Medical Journal headline put it - if general practice fails, the whole NHS fails.

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"So if anyone 10 years ago had said, 'Here's what the NHS should now do - cut the share of funding for primary care and grow the number of hospital specialists three times faster than GPs,' they'd have been laughed out of court.

"But looking back over a decade that's exactly what's happened. Now we need to act and this plan sets out exactly how."

The Royal College of General Practice in Scotland has been lobbying government for years now for 11 per cent of NHS’s Scotland funding, and this move gives that call some weight.

During those years patients have waited longer for appointments and a real crisis in recruitment - a recent BMA survey 26 per cent of practices in Scotland had at least one GP vacancy. RCGP Scotland estimates the country will need an extra 740 GPs by 2020.

Negotiations on the new GP contract are ongoing, but what are the different political parties plans for GPs?

Only Scottish Labour’s manifesto remains to be seen.

The SNP promises £500m more investment in the NHS, but the number, structure and regulation of health boards will be reviewed – presumably including the way they relate to the new primary care model, which is due to be revealed in the new parliament. The party also says it will increase annual GP training places by 100.

The Liberal Democrats say they would Increase the proportion of NHS funding allocated to primary care, including more money for GPs working in deprived areas.

The Conservatives would also increase the NHS budget, partially paid for by reintroducing the prescription charge. They would allow GPs to fine their patients for not turning up to appointments.

The Scottish Greens say they will give all primary care services more resources.

None of these commitments mention the 11 per cent the RCGP have asked for, but with England shifting the resources, the pressure will be on Scotland to do the same.