Meeting of the Parliament 15 September 2021 (Hybrid)
As my colleagues across the chamber have done, I start by paying tribute not just to our GPs but to their practice managers, their nurses and everyone who supports them. In particular, I pay tribute to them for their role during the pandemic. Many GPs I know personally volunteered in the red zones of the Covid hubs, and they were instrumental in the foothills of the vaccine roll-out.
Seeing their GP is often the first stage on a patient’s journey of receiving a diagnosis for a mental, physical or chronic health condition. As with every other sector in our health service, the challenges that GPs have faced throughout the pandemic have been unprecedented. Their ability to deal with pressure and to use their skills to make a diagnosis and prescribe a course of action, largely over the phone or through video consultation, cannot be overstated. While that was necessary during the height of the pandemic, it is absurd that we cannot at least set a date for pre-pandemic activities to resume in practices. If people can go to a nightclub, an optician or a massage therapist, logic would suggest that it is safe enough for them to have an in-person consultation with their GP. I know many GPs who want to get back to that position, too.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats welcome the Conservative Party’s motion, because it highlights a problem that the Lib Dems are becoming increasingly concerned about. Last week, my colleague Willie Rennie asked the health secretary whether he would look again at the physical distancing requirements in primary care settings, and he was assured that the Government would do just that. The Government’s amendment is typical of its approach to our health service—there are plenty of warm words but an absence of action. Where is the evidence of that commitment?