Doctors urged MSPs to keep NHS GP services public to ensure that patient care remains the main priority in primary care. The call came as MSPs prepared to debate the Tobacco and Primary Care Services (Scotland) Bill.

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

"Doctors across Scotland welcome the Bill's commitment to a publicly provided and delivered NHS. Profit driven healthcare provided by commercial GP practices will not deliver what patients most value about general practice. The concept of providing care 'from the cradle to the grave' still rings true today and it is the bond of trust between patient and GP developed upon a basis of continuity of care that is at risk if profit is put before patients. Accountability to a commercial employer and short term contracts are an uncertain basis for the long term relationship between professionals and patients upon which effective primary care depends.

"The BMA is concerned that if commercial providers are awarded contracts to provide primary medical services, then patient care may suffer and services that are not profitable could be lost. The provision of services in rural areas and deprived communities are costly and rather than increase services, in the long term it may not be viable for commercial providers to maintain certain services and patient care and access to health services will diminish."

The BMA has called on MSPs to support measures in the Bill that will help prevent young people from taking up smoking.

Dr Sally Winning, Deputy Chairman of the BMA in Scotland, said:

"With most smokers becoming addicted before their mid-20s, it is essential that we try and prevent young people from taking up smoking in the first place. A teenager might think that cigarettes are cool but the reality is that smoking is one of the most dangerous things they're likely to do - it has a 50% chance of killing them.

"The tobacco industry is relying on packaging and displays as a means to advertise their product in an effort to circumvent existing legislation. Displaying packets of cigarettes in shops and cigarette vending machines all contribute to normalising the habit and encourage the onset of smoking. Let's be clear, the industry opposes further regulation because it is concerned about recruitment of future smokers. The medical profession simply wants to end the destructive effects that a lifetime addicted to tobacco can have on individuals and their loved ones.

"MSPs have a real opportunity to help protect children from a life time of addiction and the associated diseases that go hand in hand with smoking. We strongly urge them to support these measures."

Source
British Medical Association Scotland