£78m repairs bill looms for GP surgeries

MSP slams SNP over 'crumbling' buildings as backlog hits service

- ANDREW QUINN

DOCS FACE MAINTENANCE CRISIS

SCOTTISH doctors' surgeries are facing a maintenance backlog of more than £78 million, according to figures obtained by Scottish Labour.

Freedom of Information requests by the party have revealed the current maintenance backlog for surgeries across the country is £78.5million.

This figure only includes buildings owned or leased by health boards and not those owned by individual GP practices.

This means the true scale and cost of the problem could be even greater. The costs soared by a third between 2020/21 and 2022/23 among health boards which provided data.