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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 30 June 2025
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Displaying 2556 contributions

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Public Audit Committee [Draft]

“General practice: Progress since the 2018 General Medical Services contract”

Meeting date: 18 June 2025

Colin Beattie

My final question is about MDTs, which were seen as a huge opportunity to improve the situation in GP surgeries. As has been touched on, the Auditor General refers in his report to the 2023 survey by Public Health Scotland, which found that

“MDTs in some cases created more work”

and increased GPs’ workload. That is partly because GPs spent more time on supervising and training.

I would like to understand what else is involved in that work, as there are obviously different strands to it. Do you have a view on that? What steps have been taken to improve the situation?

Public Audit Committee [Draft]

“General practice: Progress since the 2018 General Medical Services contract”

Meeting date: 18 June 2025

Colin Beattie

Is it not a case of short-term pain for long-term gain?

Public Audit Committee [Draft]

“General practice: Progress since the 2018 General Medical Services contract”

Meeting date: 18 June 2025

Colin Beattie

Typically, how long does it take for someone to come up the line and to become fully effective without having to impinge unduly on you, as a GP?

Public Audit Committee [Draft]

“General practice: Progress since the 2018 General Medical Services contract”

Meeting date: 18 June 2025

Colin Beattie

Do you have any last words, Dr Williams?

Public Audit Committee [Draft]

“General practice: Progress since the 2018 General Medical Services contract”

Meeting date: 18 June 2025

Colin Beattie

I have some questions about the multidisciplinary teams and about progress in transferring services to NHS boards, which apparently has not been going well.

The Auditor General’s report makes it clear that there are still implementation gaps and that there is insufficient data about the value for money and impact of MDTs. What is the impact of not fully implementing MDTs? The ambition is to reduce GPs’ workloads and to enable them to focus on the more complex patients and on whole-system quality improvement, so what is the impact of that delay?

Public Audit Committee [Draft]

“General practice: Progress since the 2018 General Medical Services contract”

Meeting date: 18 June 2025

Colin Beattie

I refer you to paragraph 35 of the Auditor General’s report, which says:

“While some local areas have carried out analysis of the impact of MDTs, robust, routinely available information across Scotland on the impact of the roll-out of MDTs is lacking.”

He goes on to give some more information on that. Do we have data, or do we not?

Public Audit Committee [Draft]

“General practice: Progress since the 2018 General Medical Services contract”

Meeting date: 18 June 2025

Colin Beattie

Can you give some idea of the shortfall in those areas?

Public Audit Committee [Draft]

“General practice: Progress since the 2018 General Medical Services contract”

Meeting date: 18 June 2025

Colin Beattie

Have you consulted GPs to get their opinion on the transition, how long it will take and what different skills will have to be developed?

Public Audit Committee [Draft]

“General practice: Progress since the 2018 General Medical Services contract”

Meeting date: 18 June 2025

Colin Beattie

Based on the feedback from doctors, it sounds like you have a bit of work to do to understand the transition.

Public Audit Committee [Draft]

“General practice: Progress since the 2018 General Medical Services contract”

Meeting date: 18 June 2025

Colin Beattie

Okay. I will move on from MDTs and go back to the availability of data. You have been putting a new clinical IT system in place for GPs, but the supplier has gone into administration. Is the timescale for rolling out the GP clinical IT system by 2026 still valid? What is the situation with the supplier?