EXHAUSTED doctors in Scotland are considering leaving the NHS as the profession suffers a “deepening crisis,” their union warned today.

Lewis Morrison, who chairs the British Medical Association’s Scottish council (BMA Scotland), said that, on top of the strain of the coronavirus pandemic, years of covering for absent colleagues and not feeling valued financially or professionally have left doctors “feeling worn out.”

Many are considering moving elsewhere or abroad, taking early retirement or reducing their hours as a “cocktail of problems” threatens the stability of healthcare in Scotland, he said.

This comes after BMA Scotland said that the 3 per cent pay increase for NHS medical and dental staff in Scotland “does virtually nothing” to help alleviate low morale or recruitment and retention problems.

Last year, 15 per cent of consultant posts were unfilled and the country was short of about 800 full-time GPs.

In a speech to the annual meeting of the BMA next week, Dr Morrison will say: “It is a statement of fact that the physical and mental health of many doctors has suffered during this pandemic.

“Fact it may be, but we cannot accept this as inevitable. No-one — in any profession, let alone a caring one — should suffer in this way or at this scale simply through doing their job.

“That’s a cocktail of problems that threatens the sustainability of healthcare in Scotland, let alone recovery from the pandemic.”

Dr Morrison said that leaders had held a “a constructive meeting” with Scottish Health Secretary Humza Yousaf this week “where we were able to highlight key issues and gain a welcome commitment to work on them together.”

Last month, Mr Yousaf claimed that the 3 per cent pay award reflected the “immense value we place on the continued hard work and dedication of medical and dental staff” after an “exceptional year.”