The Scottish Conservatives will attempt to unite opposition parties tomorrow over the SNP’s underfunding of general practice.
Shadow health secretary Miles Briggs will seek to get the agreement of Labour, the Greens and the Liberal Democrats that GPs and patients are suffering because of Scottish Government decisions.
As part of Scottish Conservative party business, his motion will urge Holyrood to recognise the damage caused by the SNP’s stewardship of the NHS over the last decade.
He will point to the fact that one in three GPs are approaching retirement, and a quarter of practices currently have a vacancy.
And it is hoped all opposition parties will vote together to inflict a rare parliamentary defeat on the SNP.
Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Miles Briggs said:
“Under the SNP we have seen the long-standing underfunding of general practice over the last decade.
“GP practices in Scotland receive only 7.24 per cent of the NHS budget compared to 8.79 per cent in England.
“This debate presents a chance to inflict a defeat on the SNP government and send a message on one of the most critical issues facing our NHS in Scotland today.
“There has been no end of statistics showing just how badly general practice in Scotland is struggling, a situation which is harming patients and putting strains elsewhere on the NHS.
“If the opposition parties do their job tomorrow and unite, we can send a message to the SNP government in the strongest possible terms. It’s time to act to help Save Our Surgeries.
“This is an area for which the SNP has full control, and it must work to sort out the ongoing nationwide GP crisis it has presided over immediately.”