WIREDGOV

GP pay increase.

General practitioners in Scotland will receive a 1 per cent pay increase as part of a £6 million investment in primary care announced yesterday.

The increase is in line with the pay rise all other NHS Scotland workers will receive in 2014/15.

Health Secretary Alex Neil said:

“Yesterday I confirmed that the Scottish Government will ensure that our hardworking and dedicated NHS staff rightly receive the wage increases they were promised. I am pleased that today we are able to offer the same pay increase for GPs.

“In fact, the £6 million investment in primary care goes beyond the recommendations of the review body on doctors and dentists pay because we recognise the valuable role that GPs and their staff play in providing health care services at the heart of our communities to improve the public’s health.

“It comes on the back of our more Scottish-focused contact which aims to allow GPs to spend more time with patients, will review access, drive forward quality improvements and ensure that GPs are fully involved in the integration of health and social care.

“These policies are helping our NHS to evolve and will see more people get the support they need to be able to stay in their own homes or in homely settings for as long as possible.

“Not only is this because most of us would wish to be cared for in our own home but it is about avoiding unnecessarily hospital stays because someone can't be cared for properly in their communities.

"We can only achieve this with the support of our primary care staff who are leading the way in shift in the balance of care towards care at home.”

The new rates of pay will be payable from 1 April 2014 and the new investment will bring the total funding increase for primary care services to £14 million since 2013.

Notes to editors

The DDRB recommended an uplift to the overall value of the GP contract of 0.28 per cent.