SPENDING on general practice must be doubled, medics say as they warn time is running out to “rescue” the service.

The new chair of the BMA Scottish general practitioners committee, Dr Iain Morrison, has warned that the share of NHS Scotland cash spent on the practice has fallen from 11 to 6.5 per cent since 2004.

He argued that a “huge shift” in approach is needed and that 1,800 new GPs are needed to meet the ambition of providing one GP for every thousand Scots.