The embarrassing admission comes just a week after party leader Kezia Dugdale used her party conference speech to announce that she would "guarantee an appointment at your local surgery – which you can book online if you choose – within 48 hours".
However, at a BMA hustings on Thursday, health spokeswoman Jenny Marra admitted that the commitment "is not a guarantee to see a GP".
Instead, she revealed it is simply a pledge for a patient to see somebody within a GP clinic who could "signpost" them to see "an appropriate healthcare professional".
Ms Marra admitted at the hustings that there had been "confusion" over the remit of the policy – but rather than accept responsibility, she claimed it was the media's fault.
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw – who attended the hustings with Ms Marra – says today that Labour's "half-baked plan" to ensure access to a GP within 48 hours has been "hastily abandoned".
It follows a wave of hostility from clinicians at the hustings who spoke out against Scottish Labour's proposal, saying it would do nothing to improve patient care.
Ms Marra made the admission at the beginning of her comments to the hustings.
Addressing the 48 hour commitment, she told the hustings: "Kezia Dugdale made an announcement about a 48 hour pledge to see a GP. There was a little bit of confusion because of the way it was reported in the press – it's not a guarantee to see a GP directly, but a GP appointment - within the surgery and signposted off to see the appropriate health care professional."
Later she added: "Our commitment is not specifically to a GP but in a GP primary care setting, to the most appropriate health care professional."
None of this was made clear when Labour presented the plan prior to their party conference in Glasgow.
The party's press release declared: "The Scottish Labour leader will also announce plans to guarantee every Scot an appointment at a General Practice surgery within 48 hours."
In her conference speech, Ms Dugdale said: "We can take the pressure off our hospitals by getting primary care right, delivering the NHS services people need in their communities. Instead of the cuts to GPs we've seen in the last decade, our plan for the NHS will guarantee an appointment at your local surgery – which you can book online if you choose - within 48 hours."
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said:
"Kezia Dugdale's flagship manifesto health policy, announced with great fanfare at her Scottish Labour conference, has barely lasted a week.
"There was no doubt in anybody's mind that Labour was promising everyone access to a GP within 48 hours. However, under pressure at election health hustings this was 're-profiled' by Jenny Marra as nothing more than access to a local surgery but not a guaranteed appointment with a doctor.
"This was a half-baked pledge to start with, was dismissed by doctors and others as ill-judged and has been hastily abandoned. What a shambles.
"Scotland needs less grandstanding from Labour, and a non-partisan strategic plan to guarantee Scotland's NHS, securely funded with the Scottish Conservatives 'triple-lock' funding guarantee for the lifetime of the next Scottish Parliament."