The number of direct GP encounters in Scotland has plummeted by over 100,000 compared with the same time last year, shock new figures analysed by the Scottish Conservatives reveal today.
While there were 1,583,148 direct encounters with a GP in January 2024, that number fell to 1,469,858 in the same month this year.
The 2025 figure is also the lowest number of direct GP encounters recorded since records began in 2018, excluding the Covid pandemic period.
The figures come in the same week a damning report from Audit Scotland laid bare the SNP’s “appalling” failure to support GPs across Scotland, including them overseeing a reduction in the number of GPs, despite ministers promising to recruit 800 more by 2027.
The watchdog’s report also highlighted the SNP’s cuts to primary care of six per cent in recent years, while the proportion spent on general practice as part of the overall health budget has also fallen on their watch.
Shadow health secretary Dr Sandesh Gulhane, who is also a GP, says the SNP have left GPs at “breaking point” up and down the country and it is patients who face the “devastating” knock-on effects every single day.
Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP said: “These shocking findings confirm that it is getting harder and harder for patients to have a direct encounter with their GP on the SNP’s watch.
“It is unacceptable that the number of encounters has plummeted by over 100,000 compared with the same point last year. It is little wonder that Audit Scotland were so damning of the SNP’s appalling failures in their report into GPs this week.
“As a GP, I am experiencing first-hand how the SNP have left us at breaking point and unable to meet patient demand. Suffering patients ultimately are the ones feeling the devastating effect of the SNP’s cuts to primary care, and their failure to recruit more GPs.
“Patients who cannot get to see their GP are then left with no option but to seek help from other areas of our health service, like A&E or pharmacies, which are also overwhelmed thanks to a lack of support from the SNP.
“It is time for SNP ministers to show some common sense and ensure the money in the health budget prioritises getting patients to see their GP, rather it being squandered on pointless bureaucracy within the health service.”
Notes:
So far in 2025 there have been over 100,000 fewer direct GP encounters in Scotland compared to last year. In January 2025, there have been 1,469,858 direct GP encounters according to Public Health Scotland statistics, compared to 1,583,148 in January 2024. Outside the pandemic years, this is the lowest number of direct GP encounters documented since records began in 2018. (General Practice In-Hours Activity Visualisation, 4 March 2025, link).
Audit Scotland have criticised the SNP’s lack of clarity over future funding for GPs. Audit Scotland’s report states: ‘The Scottish Government has committed to prioritising primary care but there is a lack of clarity about investment in general practice in the medium term.’ (Audit Scotland Report, 27 March 2025, link).
Since the SNP promised to increase the number of GPs by 800 by 2027, GP numbers have decreased by 67. In 2017, the SNP pledged to increase the number of GPs in Scotland by 800. At the time, there were around 3,520 Whole time equivalent GPs in Scotland. By March 2024, this had reduced to 3,453. (Audit Scotland Report, 27 March 2025, link).
Audit Scotland’s report found that spending on general practice has decreased. Between 2021-2022 and 2023-2024, real-terms spending dropped by 6 percent. Additionally, the proportion of overall NHS spending allocated to general practice has also seen a slight decline in recent years. (Audit Scotland Report, 27 March 2025, link).