It comes as the Royal College of GPs issue a fresh warning that Scotland could face a deficit of 830 GPs by 2020 on current trends.
Prior to the Holyrood election, the SNP leader admitted that the share of funding going to general practice had to increase – telling Bernard Ponsonby's Face to Face programme: “I’m not disputing the key point here which is that we’ve got to increase that percentage.”
However, the SNP has failed to set out any funding plan since the election.
Last month, the Scottish Conservatives announced its support for a new commitment, calling for at least 10 per cent of all health funding to be directed to general practice.
The plan has been welcomed by the RCGP. The organisation has also welcomed action from NHS England to boost GP funding, and is calling today for similar plans to be set out by the Scottish Government.
Academic studies have shown that the failure to properly fund GPs in recent years has eroded their ability to act as “gatekeepers” to the NHS – thereby pushing up demand on secondary care.
The party is now calling for the First Minister to end her silence on GP funding.
Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Donald Cameron said:
“The Royal College makes the scale of the GP crisis clear today.
“It estimates a deficit of 830 GPs in Scotland by the end of the decade. This would be devastating for communities across Scotland.
“Before the election, Nicola Sturgeon was on record saying that GPs must receive a greater share of the health pot. Yet she’s been utterly silent on this since.
“Unless she acts, people will rightly conclude that the SNP promised one thing before an election, only to bury that promise after it.
“We want to see at least 10 per cent of health funding going to general practice by 2020.
“That will help ease the crisis we currently see in general practice. And it will help the rest of the NHS by enabling GPs to do more.
“Nicola Sturgeon made a commitment on GPs. It’s time she got back to the day job and delivered.”