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.