Centre for Public Policy

Dr David Blane, Academic Lead for the Deep End GP Project, provides a quick insight on the Programme for Government.

The Scottish Government’s Programme for Government (PfG) for 2025 to 2026 was set out yesterday.  The First Minister John Swinney has said that improving the NHS is “of central importance” and has committed to making an additional 100,000 GP appointments available over the next 12 months for “key risk factors” – including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, obesity, and smoking.

The hope amongst Government officials is that by providing additional “MOT” sessions for those at high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), this will free up GP appointments for other patients and thereby address what Mr Swinney described as the “8am lottery” of struggling to access appointments.

For those working in general practice, this is not news.  It relates to a Directed Enhanced Service (DES) that was communicated to GP practices on 11^th April.  Practices have until tomorrow (Thursday 8^th May) to notify their Health Boards if they wish to participate in the DES.

The aim of the DES is to incentivise proactive efforts by practices to carry out CVD checks on adults aged 35-60 years old who have not received the full suite of CVD checks (blood pressure, cholesterol, weight, blood glucose, smoking status) in the last 3 years, with a focus on those living in the most socioeconomically deprived postcodes. GPs are encouraged to focus on those who are not routinely engaging with services, building on UoG research into “missingness” from health care.

This “enhanced service” has been broadly welcomed by GPs, but it is unlikely to do much to address wider access or capacity issues in Scottish general practice.  Indeed, Dr Iain Morrison, Chair of BMA Scotland’s GP Committee (SGPC), said: “The Scottish Government suggested in the build up to the PfG that they were going to put tackling GP access at the heart of their plans, but yet again, the rhetoric on this is failing to match the reality.  The failure to deliver, or commit to direct investment in GP practices that closes the £290m funding gap GPs have seen develop since 2008 remains deeply worrying.”  The BMA SGPC have threatened a “formal dispute” if this funding gap is not addressed.

In 2017, The Scottish Government pledged to deliver an additional 800 GPs by 2027. But a recent report from watchdog Audit Scotland revealed that only an additional 135 GPs have been added. Yesterday's announcement does nothing to address this shortfall.

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More from the BMA Scotland: General practice must be saved now for the survival of the NHS, doctors warn.

First published: 7 May 2025