FAMILY doctors are “running on empty” as workloads balloon and practices dwindle, the British Medical Association (BMA) warned today.

The union made the claim after a survey of 1,021 GPs showed clinicians citing the concern, alongside an inability to meet patients’ needs within available resources, as the worst aspects of their job.

In his final speech to the Scottish Local Medical Committee  conference, Scottish BMA’s GP committee chairman Dr Andrew Buist warned the service was suffering a “lingering death.”

He said that without government action it “will lead to great instability and the dismantling of general practice as we have known it, with significant disruption to the rest of the NHS.”

Mr Buist also highlighted that the number of practices had fallen by 9 per cent in the last decade, while Britain’s population had grown by 7 per cent and patient lists by 18 per cent.

“General practice is running on empty in many parts of the country – and GPs working so hard on behalf of their communities are exhausted and burnt out,” he said.

“General practice has been under-resourced for years now.

“Without the proper funding, numbers of GPs will continue to drop – and the impact is nearly always greatest where general practice is needed more: in particular, areas of higher deprivation and areas of low population density.

“We have reached a tipping point in general practice and I believe we are in serious trouble.

“Core general practice desperately requires more funding to meet population needs – and is the key action to take pressure off secondary care services.

“Without it, we simply cannot give the people of Scotland the level of care they need and deserve.

“So, once again, I am calling for the Scottish government to come good on its commitment to having a national conversation on the future of Scotland’s NHS – an honest, mature discussion, consulting the public on what they want from their health service.

“If we want a sustainable NHS, one that will be around in 25 years, now is the time – this cannot be avoided any longer.”

A Scottish government spokesperson said: “We are incredibly thankful to GPs for the vital service they provide to communities and we know they face continued pressure.

“GP numbers are at a record high in Scotland, with the highest number of GPs per head in the UK.

“We are committed to further increasing the number of GPs in Scotland.”