100 LESS GP SURGERIES 250K EXTRA PATIENTS..

Union boss in safety warning to government

- VIVIENNE AITKEN

ALMOST 100 GP practices I have been lost in the last 10 years with a quarter of a million more patients than there were a decade ago.

Doctors' union the BMA warned no practice could consider its future safe ahead of a meeting with Health Secretary Michael Matheson in which it will call for Scottish Government intervention on the "full-blown crisis".

Dr Andrew Buist, chairman of the union's Scottish GP committee, said a sustainability dashboard revealed the average number of patients per GP has increased from 1499 to 1687.

Between 2013 and 2023, the number of GP practices in Scotland fell from 994 to 905 with another eight practices indicating they will hand back their contracts to NHS Scotland this year.

Greater Glasgow and Clyde alone has 17 fewer GP practices in 2023 than it did a decade ago.

Almost one in 10 practices in Scotland have formally closed their lists to new patients as numbers have rocketed.