A "SIGNIFICANT" number of Scottish GPs will defy the Government and refuse to extend their opening hours, the leader of Scotland's family doctors revealed last night.
Dr Dean Marshall said the April 1 deadline for introducing the extended service would be missed and predicted that provision would be "patchy" when it eventually got off the ground.
Marshall, chairman of the British Medical Association's GP commit
tee, said many family medics believed it was a waste of NHS cash to offer extended opening hours.
Scotland on Sunday revealed earlier this month that doctors' leaders were preparing to accept a £16m scheme to open for an extra three hours a week on average.
The BMA subsequently approved the scheme, but there is growing evidence a large number of family doctors will choose to take a £6,000-per-medic pay cut rather than extend their hours.
A survey of GP practices, conducted last week by Scotland on Sunday, found only a tiny number were so far committed to extending their hours.
Marshall said: "GPs are extremely angry and a significant number of GPs have told me they won't do this. I have not met one who thinks this is a good idea. From a patient's point of view it will be patchy. The picture will be extremely varied and it will depend where you are registered whether you get this or not.
"Many GPs are preparing to take a pay cut because they think this is a waste of NHS resources and they would rather they were spent on something else. They are prepared to say no because they are not going to do something that's just a political soundbite and is not going to improve patient care in this country.
"The idea that you can open your surgery a bit longer sounds easy, but it's not. Patients can't get the same level of service as they would during the day. We are not allowed to keep these appointments for people who work so they will be filled up by the same people who can come during the day. It appears to me that the Scottish Government have not thought through the issues.
"I find it extremely difficult to see how it could be running in Scotland in April."
Last week, Scotland on Sunday contacted a representative sample of 100 surgeries across Scotland to establish whether individual practices were going to extend their opening hours.
Only three, one in Lothian, one in Glasgow and another in Shetland, said they would, although two of them already offer a voluntary extended hours service.
Two GP practices said that they would not, one in Tayside and another in Lanarkshire.
No decision had been taken at the remaining 95, despite the fact that just five weeks remain before the scheme is due to start. Doctors say the reason for the uncertainty is that many details of the deal remain unclear such as staffing and security for opening at night and weekends.
One doctor who has already decided not to go ahead with the move is Dr Mary O'Brien from the Stobswell Medical Centre, Dundee.
O'Brien said: "My opinion is that our practice can't do it, that's the bottom line. I can't force staff to work extra hours.
"We have looked at this and the only way we could do it would be for myself or my partner to work alone. Security-wise, that's just horrendous and it's totally impractical."
But patients' groups said the move was essential to reach those who found it difficult to get to their doctor during office hours.
A spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses Scotland said: "An extension to GP's opening hours would allow small business owners and employees the option to access health care without affecting their working day.
Flexible GP opening hours could allow these people to access their rights to healthcare services without damaging their business and the important services that they provide to their own customers."
Margaret Watt, chairwoman of the Scotland Patients' Association, said: "We are calling for doctors to extend their opening hours so that they are available to see patients at their time of need. We are not asking them for the moon. I think they are trying to hold us to ransom for more money. Patients wouldn't be asking for appointments if they didn't need them."
Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: "I believe that our offer to GPs is a good one, for GPs and for patients.
"Discussions between GPs and the Scottish Government continue even now and there is no sense in which the Scottish Government has refused to negotiate with GPs. I met Dean Marshall on January 29, and my officials have had several discussions with him and the Scottish General Practitioners Committee about the issues he raises. These discussions have and will continue to inform the detail of our proposals."
The full article contains 819 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
