A DUNFERMLINE man has contacted the Scottish Government after being told he would have to wait 30 DAYS for a phone appointment with his GP.

Robert Holland called Newpark Medical Practice in the hope that, after the latest easing of coronavirus restrictions, he would be able to see a doctor.

But after being told it would be a month before he could get an appointment, he wrote to Health Minister Humza Yousaf.

“I wrote to him asking if we are now below level zero, why when I phoned up to try and get a doctor’s appointment they are still only doing phone-call appointments,” he said. “I then asked when the next appointment was available and was told it was in 30 days.

“I can, under the new rules – if I were to take the notion – go into a nightclub and drink and dance up and down with 200 other people with no mask or social-distancing, but I can’t get an eye-to-eye contact with my doctors and having to wait 30 days on them deciding to call me.

“As we are now officially out of lockdown, it’s about time GPs took their job a bit more seriously and see patients.

“You cannot even get past the receptionist and I would like to know, if someone is ill, do they have to sit there 30 days with it getting worse or go to A&E?”

Mr Holland, of West Baldridge Road, was disappointed with what he described as a “half-hearted” response from the Scottish Government.

The letter he received stated: “General practices are following Public Health Scotland’s advice to reserve face-to-face appointments in primary care settings for those consultations where the GP decides it is clinically necessary.

“This is not just to prevent the general transmission of the coronavirus but to protect general practices as medical spaces for patients who have a clinical reason for face-to-face attendance.

“Health Protection Scotland’s advice is not tied to the levels Scottish local authorities are in or eventual progress towards remobilisation of services: general practices will remain open regardless but will continue to restrict face-to-face appointments as long as there is a danger of a patient contracting the coronavirus in a primary care setting.

“In the meantime, all patients are still able to get an appointment by telephone or video call.

“Practices are contracted to provide general medical services by their local health board and not the Scottish Government. As such, Scottish ministers are unable to intervene in the appointment arrangements of individual practices but they do expect satisfactory systems to be in place for the benefit of all patients. If you continue to have difficulty contacting your practice or any issues about the service they provide then please ask to speak to or write to the practice manager.”

New Park’s website explains that the surgery is currently operating a “personal list system” where all initial GP appointments are telephone consultations.

It adds: “If you express the need to be seen urgently, you will be booked onto the Triage Nurses List and she will return your call between 8.30am and 11.30am.”