Regional List MSP Jamie Greene has lodged a motion to the Scottish Parliament raising concern over West Kilbride GP Surgery’s recent difficult in securing sufficient GPs to meet its demand.

The West of Scotland list MSP outlined the 'deep concern regarding the recent crisis' at West Kilbride’s GP surgery, pointing out that the practice has struggled to find sufficient replacement GPs to meet the demands of the surgery, 'which nearly led to its closure'.

He added that locums were eventually found that will keep the surgery open until at least Christmas 2017, but that this issue is far from resolved.

However, Cunninghame North MSP Kenneth Gibson has accused the Conservatives of a 'level of misinformation which is unacceptable and indefensible.'

Mr Greene highlighted Audit Scotland’s recent report on hospital workforce planning, which noted that long-term GP shortages is an issue that Scotland will have to deal with and believes that this is a clear example of such mismanagement affecting local communities, and calls on the Scottish Government to take the appropriate steps to ensure that West Kilbride and other GP surgeries are 'sufficiently staffed in the future to ensure that they can meet their patients' demands.'

Mr Greene commented: “The SNP’s complete mismanagement of NHS workforce planning has led Scotland to a situation where we simply aren’t prepared for the current needs of local medical services. It’s questionable whether we will be able to meet growing demand. After years of being warned we are now seeing the very real impact of ignoring the warnings and failing to address to the very real issue of GP recruitment. This cannot be solved overnight, there is a significant time lag in training GPs."

Local Constituency MSP Kenneth Gibson has hit back at claims made by Regional List MSP Jamie Greene that the SNP Government is doing nothing for GP recruitment and retention and the misinformation being spread regarding the alleged closure of West Kilbride Medical Practice.

Mr Gibson said:  "NHS Ayrshire and Arran has made it clear from the outset that closure of West Kilbride Medical Practice is not on the cards and Jamie Greene and his colleagues should know that.

“I have delivered a newsletter to every home in West Kilbride, Seamill and Portencross to clarify matters.

"The local Tories may be pleased that their "surgery is closing" mantra is upsetting some constituents, but I would advise them to take a step back and weigh up their attempts at political pointscoring against the wellbeing of the local community. As the constituency MSP I am actually dealing with patients who think there is no point in contacting West Kilbride Medical Practice because they have been told it is no longer there; it doesn't take a genius to predict this problem will increase if this misinformation continues to be repeated. For politicians, or anyone else for that matter, to cause such a level of misinformation is unacceptable and indefensible.

"Mr Greene's accusations that the SNP Government has done nothing to address GP recruitment and retention further confirms that he prioritises politics, not patients. Had he really taken an interest in the matter he would know about the National Health and Social Care Workforce Plan, which sets out how to improve planning to recruit, develop and retain staff; the increase of the GP Retention Fund this year as part of the overall doubling in primary care investment to £500 million by 2021; the GP Returners Programme; the Scottish International Medical Training Fellowship, which is a consolidation of various programmes through which more than 50 trainee doctors have been recruited to NHS Scotland since 2015 and which aims to double the number of trainee doctors to over 100 over the next two years; widened access to a medical education for those from deprived backgrounds; Scotland’s first graduate-level medicine course; the Scottish Rural Medicine Collaborative which enabled NHS Ayrshire & Arran to attract one of the doctors who has been working at West Kilbride Medical Practice, and so on. 

"All of this must be why the local Tories haven't been able to come up with a single alternative to what is being done. And people can see how woeful their management of the NHS is in England, with Junior Doctor Strikes and the British Red Cross describing the NHS in England as suffering from a “Humanitarian Crisis.”

"Once again, the Tories are good at posturing in the press with the same misinformation week after week, while the SNP is actually working to address the issue."