Meeting of the Parliament 10 November 2022
As the public health minister, I welcome the opportunity to open this debate on alternative pathways to primary care. I commend the committee for its timely inquiry into a topic of such high importance and thank the many stakeholders and members of the public whose views informed the committee’s final report. My portfolio means that I am all too aware of the health challenges that Scotland faces. As the front door of the NHS, primary care, which sits in the heart of our communities, is at the forefront of our efforts to tackle those challenges.
Primary care has changed significantly in the past few years. Since 2018, we have committed more than £0.5 billion for employing many more healthcare professionals to work in multidisciplinary teams. There has been a major culture shift away from a model of care in which a doctor is often the first point of contact, to one in which patients benefit from access to a whole team of health professionals. In general practice, that means that an increasing number of patients receive the care that they need from pharmacists, advanced practitioner nurses, mental health workers, physiotherapists and community link workers. Through our reforms, we have recruited 3,220 of those professionals to work in primary care multidisciplinary teams since 2018. In the wider primary care system, more patients access the care and advice that they need from community pharmacists.
At the same time, we remain committed to increasing the number of GPs in Scotland by 800 by the end of 2027. We envisage a person-centred primary care system in which GPs occupy the role of expert medical generalist, supported by a multidisciplinary team that provides holistic care to patients. It is important to recognise the commitment from our skilled workforce that has made that culture change possible, so I welcome the committee’s recognition of the hard work that that has involved.
That fits into our wider reform agenda within primary care, and our aim of transforming the system to ensure that people are seeing the right professional at the right time. Reforms to improve patient experience are under way across Scotland. The new GP contract and the expansion of multidisciplinary teams in general practice include new or re-imagined roles such as community link workers or care navigators. At the centre of all of that work is a commitment to ensure that patients and their experience of primary care come first.