AN MSP has demanded urgent talks with NHS Fife about increasing concerns over face-to-face access to GPs.

Annabelle Ewing raised the issue in the Scottish Parliament this week after mounting worries from constituents not being able to see their doctor.

“I asked what steps are being taken to improve patient access to GPs and was pleased to hear the First Minister outline a number of measures that are under way as well as stressing that, where clinically necessary, the option to have a face-to-face consultation should always be available," she said.

“The aspiration of returning to a greater availability of face-to-face appointments is already in the Scottish Government’s Recovery Plan, and Public Health Scotland has published updated guidance for primary care settings, including on key issues like physical-distancing requirements which has now been reduced to one metre in most settings."

But despite these reassurances, Ms Ewing said she had not had the same message relayed to her from NHS Fife.

“That appears to contradict information I have been given by NHS Fife regarding distancing at GPs surgeries, both in a meeting with them last Friday and in a written update, so I will be taking this matter up with NHS Fife urgently," she added.

NHS Fife's director of nursing and executive lead for infection prevention and control, Janette Owens, said medical practices across Fife continued to follow national guidance on infection prevention and control.

"Such measures are in place to minimise the risks for the many vulnerable patients attending GP surgeries, and indeed for the staff working in these areas," she said.

"Practices must continually manage the number of patients attending at any one time, and while some of the guidance for primary care settings has recently eased, there continues to be a necessity for a minimum of one-metre physical-distancing within waiting areas, and two-metre distancing is still required for patients who are considered most clinically vulnerable.

“In some practices, and particularly those with smaller waiting areas, distancing requirements continue to impact on the number of patients who can safely wait, and this can in turn reduce the number of in-person appointments practices can make available.”

Associate medical director for the Fife Health and Social Care Partnership, Dr Helen Hellewell, added: “The proportion of face-to-face appointments available to patients in Fife continues to increase as it has for many months, with many thousands of face-to-face consultations provided each week.

“We recognise, however, that patients at a number of practices are having difficulty accessing appointments, whether face-to-face or otherwise. Like very many other areas of the healthcare system, general practice is experiencing significant and sustained pressure, with the demand for healthcare at present unlike anything we have ever seen.

"Such pressures are made significantly more challenging due to the UK-wide shortage of general practitioners, which in many areas is reducing the numbers of appointments practices can offer to appointments."