NHS Scotland crisis: Plans to deliver 1,000 extra GPs to be revealed, as more than 12,000 Scots died before reaching hospital by ambulance last year

Plans to be published by Scottish Tories leader Douglas Ross include banning the closure of any NHS facility unless its replacement has been confirmed

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross is set to unveil how his party would deliver 1,000 more GPs to save Scotland’s NHS from “breaking point”.

The plans will be set out as a key proposal in the party’s policy paper on health published today. Under the plans, patients will be given a guarantee of seeing a family doctor within a week by raising the proportion of NHS funding going to GP services by 12 per cent.

The patient guarantee will also sanction health boards which exceed maximum waiting times for certain procedures. Additional proposals include banning the closure of any NHS facility unless its replacement has been confirmed.

Ambulances sit at the accident and emergency at the Glasgow Royal hospital. Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Mr Ross is set to reveal the plans alongside the party’s health spokesman, GP Dr Sandesh Gulhane. The Tory leader is expected to accuse First Minister Humza Yousaf and former health secretary Michael Matheson of presiding over a “permanent crisis” in the NHS.

Mr Matheson resigned from the post on Thursday. The Scottish Government aims to increase the number of GPs by at least 800 by 2028.

Mr Ross will say: “We can all see the cracks in a system that is well past breaking point. Despite the best efforts of hard-working staff, one in seven Scots – over 800,000 people – are on an NHS waiting list.

“Performance in A&E, cancer, mental health and delayed discharge have all hit record lows in recent years, and more staff are now leaving the service than joining it. Our health service is in permanent crisis. Yet the SNP Government offer no vision to turn around the NHS’s fortunes.

“Humza Yousaf is the architect of a flimsy recovery plan that has seen standards fall across our health service since the Covid pandemic – and not get any better.”

Mr Ross is expected to say that 86 local health facilities have closed since 2012 in favour of increased centralisation. He said his party would “make unacceptable waits just to see your GP a thing of the past”.

The Scottish Government has been asked for comment.

It comes as Scottish Labour revealed more than 12,000 Scots died before reaching hospital by ambulance last year.

Party leader Anas Sarwar said the statistic, obtained using Freedom of Information legislation, showed the “real-world consequences” of “SNP incompetence”. The figure increased from more than 7,100 in 2019 – a 70 per cent rise in four years.

Mr Sarwar said Mr Matheson’s resignation would make the headlines, but “the crisis in our NHS has been 17 years in the making”. Speaking at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, Mr Sarwar said: “Many of these people may have survived if an ambulance could have reached them sooner or they could have been admitted to hospital more quickly.

“That is the real-world consequence of SNP incompetence and a failure to get to grips with a crisis in our NHS.” In response, First Minister Humza Yousaf said a “significant chunk” of winter funding was used to recruit additional ambulance staff. But he said: “I take real exception to Anas Sarwar’s characterisation in his question that nobody in the Government understands the real challenges that the NHS is under.”