Concerns have been raised about whether West Kilbride surgery will close in future, after a letter from the outgoing GPs which blamed the NHS for lack of support behind their decision to quit the practice.
West Kilbride Medical Practice will now continue under NHS control with locum doctors running the surgery, but councillor Todd Ferguson has raised concerns that this is just a short term measure until Christmas, and voiced fears that the surgery could close in future. However, the SNP have branded the Conservative comments as 'irresponsible scaremongering'.
In the letters sent out to patients last week, the doctors stated: "As you may be aware, the surgery has recently been struggling to recruit new doctors. For the last 18 months, we have been working short of a full level of GP staffing.
"For the last five months, we have been without two Partners who provided 40% of our clinical hours. We have had to provide cover by alternative means. Unfortunately both partnership vacancies have been left unfilled with no applications received for either post.
"As a result of the shortage of medical cover and the increasing reliance on locum doctors the remaining partners approached our Ayrshire and Arran Health Board for support during this difficult time. 
"During the eight months we have been in discussion, there has not been sufficient support in the form of further doctors or associated health practitioners to help in West Kilbride. 
"Due to our significant concerns over the sustainability of continuing to deliver a safe and effective service we took the serious step of handing back our General Practice contract to the health board.
"We have continued to try and recruit new GPs during this six month notice period. It is with great sadness and regret that as a consequence of the above the current general practitioners Dr Struthers, Dr Maxwell, and Dr Barbour, will no longer continue to provide medical services beyond the 9 August 2017. 
West of Scotland list MSP Jamie Greene and Cllr Todd Ferguson have expressed deep concern over the potential closure of West Kilbride’s GP surgery. 
Jamie Greene MSP commented: “Time and time again the SNP have been warned about the lack of planning of Scotland’s GP workforce but refused to take action. Now we’re seeing the very real impact on people’s lives. Across Scotland we’re seeing this GP crisis hit local communities, it’s time for the SNP to get their heads out of the sand and start taking concrete action to address this.”
Cllr Todd Ferguson commented: “My priority right now is to ensure that West Kilbride Medical Practice remains open so that patients can get seen and receive treatment. Although we’ve secured locums that will keep the surgery running up until Christmas, unless the SNP address this issue then we could be confronted with this closure in the near future. GP planning is an important issue, Nicola Sturgeon cannot continue to treat it as a second-tier matter. If people can’t get seen by a GP it puts an enormous amount of pressure on hospitals such as Crosshouse. The SNP have utterly failed to develop better ways of attracting new staff into our NHS and now we’re seeing the impact.”
Constituency MSP Kenneth Gibson hit back: “To suggest that the West Kilbride surgery will close is irresponsible scaremongering. Unlike the Tory Government at Westminster, the SNP Government continues to drive recruitment and retention of GPs by investing heavily in training, practices, recruitment and so on. 
“The SNP Government is providing an extra £250 million in direct support of general practice per year by 2021 - increasing the overall investment in primary care by £500 million. As part of this, the GP recruitment and retention fund has already been increased from £1 million to £5 million, enabling expansion and continued support. This is not to mention other recruitment and retention investments.
“Meanwhile, there is a shortage of over 5,000 GPs in England and it is entirely unclear what the Tories are doing to address this.”
West Kilbride SNP Cllr Joy Brahim commented: “The issues at West Kilbride Medical Practice have been the product of a variety of unfortunate local as well as national circumstances. 
"Both the Health and Social Care Partnership and NHS Ayrshire and Arran itself are doing fantastic work moving the practice forward for the time being, and I have every confidence that they will continue to run the practice efficiently whilst working towards the ultimate aim of another GP takeover. Most importantly for patients, the practice is and will remain open, any backlogs have been eliminated with help of the departing practitioners and there has been an increase of overall GP coverage."