Covid in Scotland: GPs 'firefighting' to cope with backlog in care
- Published
Scotland's GPs are "firefighting" to catch up with the huge backlog in non-Covid care caused by the pandemic, it has been claimed.
Health service providers across the country have been warning that they are being stretched to the limit.
Three hospitals were placed on "code black" status last week, having reached capacity due to a rise in Covid cases.
GPs say they are now facing even greater strain as more patients turn to their local surgeries for support.
It comes as the the Scottish government announced £12m in additional funding to health boards across Scotland to support non-Covid emergency care.
Glasgow GP Dr Punam Krishan told BBC Radio Scotland's Sunday Show there had been "no stop, no break, no respite" for exhausted healthcare workers.
She said: "We've been trying to manage, as best we can, all non-Covid care. We are playing catch-up while trying to support our patients with all the new issues of long Covid and mental health.
"We are taking the bulk of everything that's coming our way. Patients can't get hospital appointments or there are long waiting lists and they fall back to us GPs."
Dr Krishan added: "We are just trying our best to firefight, hoping that at some point we'll be able to get a bit of air."
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said it was hoped the extra £12m would help put measures in place to reduce waiting times for urgent or emergency treatment.
The Scottish government said the new funding added to £380m already provided during the pandemic
The immediate focus will also be on boosting staffing levels and available beds, he said.
Mr Yousaf added: "We are working closely with those health boards experiencing the greatest challenges to ensure the funding delivers the improvements required.
"Our NHS staff continue to work tirelessly to respond to the pandemic whilst providing vital non-Covid treatment and safe patient care.
"Any reductions to service will be short-term to ensure those of most critical need have immediate medical attention.
"Urgent treatment, including vital cancer treatment, will continue during this challenging period."
Support and help
The health secretary told the Sunday Show that the Scottish government had already provided health boards with £380m, external to help with pandemic costs, including PPE and the ongoing vaccination programme.
But Dr Krishan said more work also needed to be done "with GPs on the ground".
She said: "We've got flu season coming upon us now and it's just a sense of 'here we go again'.
"Now we've got boosters on the scene too. That communication needs to come to us well ahead of it actually happening. And who is going to provide that?
"We need the support and help - we need to be seen as human beings as well."
A survey earlier this year found two-thirds of GPs described their workload as unmanageable.
The doctors' union, BMA Scotland, said it was "more concerned than for a long time" about the pressure on GPs.
Dr Patricia Moultrie, deputy chair of the Scottish GPs committee of the BMA, told the Scotland on Sunday newspaper, external: "General practices are in a very difficult place workload-wise, and we are very anxious about what the future weeks and months hold.
"It does look as though long Covid is going to be an illness that's going to be managed in the community, and it's good that fewer people are being admitted to hospital.
"But looking at the numbers that we're seeing, we are very concerned about the workload that is going to be sitting in the community with the pandemic."
