BMA Scotland Response To Government Announcement On Extended Hours Nursing

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 26 Jun 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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Dr Dean Marshall, chairman of the BMA's Scottish General Practitioners Committee said:

"This arrangement has not been agreed with Scotland's GPs who employ practice nurses.

"GPs have already expressed their anger at how the Scottish Government has sought to implement extended hours and this new arrangement for practice nurses will simply fuel that anger further. Many of our staff work in general practice because the hours fit with their family commitments and it is unlikely that practice nurses will be more inclined work evenings and weekends under this scheme.

"Scotland's GPs believe that it is inappropriate to direct further NHS funding towards extended hours in preference to more pressing health needs. Only today, children expressed their concerns about living in poverty* - surely it would be more responsible for our Government to invest scarce NHS resources into tackling the health inequalities that exist in Scotland, this would deliver much better health outcomes.

"We still maintain that if the Scottish Government had negotiated an arrangement for improved access for patients, we could have created a more flexible approach to delivering extended hours, that had the backing of GPs rather than this piecemeal approach that few GPs to date have signed up to."

* NCH Scotland's 'Hear Our Voice' survey

Link to Scottish Government announcement

BMA Scotland
Public Affairs Office
14 Queen Street
Edinburgh
EH2 1LL
http://www.bma.org.uk