For many Scots the GP surgery is the first port of call when health issues arise, but doctors believe the Scottish Government has deemed them "dispensable".

An STV News investigation has unearthed stark concerns over the future of GPs amid budget announcements for 2016/17.

Leading doctors say the 1.9% rise in allocation for general medical services (an additional £13m) is insufficient to cope with a "workforce crisis", the rise in number of appointments and the complexity of cases in Scotland's ageing population.

Doctors warn the Scottish Government's budgetary plans are part of a wider "strategy" to ultimately reduce the role of a GP in primary care.

It was announced on January 22 that a major project to "refocus" the role of GPs would launch in Inverclyde, delegating current GP tasks to other health care professionals.

STV News spoke to GPs across the country who warned insufficient funding would affect a number of elements of primary care.

Dingwall GP Dr Miles Mack, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners in Scotland, highlighted various areas that would be affected by funding across health boards.

If funding cuts are not reversed, Dr Mack predicts practices will have to "reassess priorities" for urgent cases, as well as cutting their own services.

General practices now provide around 11% more appointments than they did ten years ago. Patients can currently wait up to three weeks to see their GP, but he predicts this will get "much, much worse".

As for the next five years, Dr Mack expects "a much reduced service to the detriment of patients" with limitations on the role GPs have, ultimately putting comprehensive medical care "at risk".

In recent years, Govan GP Dr Euan Paterson has noticed a "massive hike in the technical workload" as a result of advances in medicine, with treatments traditionally dealt with by hospitals delegated to GPs. Dr Paterson also admits that "I worry about my competency to deal with these things".

He also shared concerns of becoming "unsafe" as colleagues become "physically and emotionally tired". This is of particular concern in practices across the country where one in three GPs are over 50 and will approach retirement age in the next ten years.

For Dr Paterson, the role of a GP is to attend to a patient's needs according to the World Health Organisation's definition of health – that is physical, mental and social well-being.

He believes his relationships with patients built over a 30-year career is crucial to the delivery of well-rounded care, and fears this may be lost in the deluge of additional tasks.

He said: "We witness people suffering and we acknowledge, validate and sometimes normalise that.

"I think that is what allows people to keep going.

"In what has become a pretty vicious society, there's not a lot of that happening now. My worry is these immeasurable things will get squeezed out by the other work that's getting put in."

Dr Kelly Wood, a GP in Kyle of Lochalsh, also highlighted the cost implications of overworking and under-funding GPs, following her time on maternity leave.

Her practice, which covers a large geographical area, was unable to staff her six-month leave, due to a lower availability of medical staff in rural communities. Instead the practice relied on short-term locums who provided occasional week-long cover.

Dr Wood said: "We have evidence to show the number of referrals to hospitals go up if using short-term contracts, which means an increasing cost to the health board.

"I'm very lucky to have very supportive and resilient colleagues but that only lasts so long as the pressure builds up."

When asked if patient care would be affected by the current funding plan, Dr Kelly Wood said: "I think it's inevitable if we have less time to do more with less money."

Here are just some of the potential impacts for patients according to GPs:

More funding

The Scottish Government has argued that funding is on the rise for general practice (up 1.9% from 2015/16), however the RCGP is concerned primary care is set for another financial shortfall.

Health secretary Shona Robison argues that investment in services such as ambulance service and increased health visitors will have a "beneficial impact" on general practice.

General medical services are allocated £722.8m in the 2016/17 budget in real terms (£852.57m in 2014/15) - a figure RCGP chair Dr Miles Mack is less than enamoured with.

He said: "We are told of trials of 'new models of care' with absolutely no detail offered and no progress reported.

"The Scottish public and the GP profession have a right to fully understand what these trials involve and to know what kind of service they may expect in the future.

"We are at a crossroads. It has now become crucial. This is the time to act."

More doctors

According to Dr Euan Paterson there is a fundamental need for more doctors to look after a smaller number of patients, so that "relationship-based care" becomes a priority.

He added this would be “economically more viable because we could keep health contained,” and in instances of palliative care, "it would help us de-medicalise death".

Expose trainee GPs to rural communities

In 2014/15 over 1450 undergraduate placements in general practice took place across Scotland.

Here is how they were dispersed.

But GPs working in rural communities have become increasingly worried by an inability to recruit, particularly as many current doctors are approaching retirement age.

Dr Kelly Wood said: "We need to expose trainees to rural working as some are put off by location.

"We also need to recruit people from rural backgrounds. Medical students need rural placements – some universities are good at this already but it needs to become universal."

Health secretary Shona Robison said: "We have pledged to increase GP training places for medical students from 300 to 400 a year and are expanding schemes to encourage trained GPs to return to practice in the NHS.

"We are also working closely with the BMS and the Royal College of GPs to reduce workload, this includes our pioneering agreement to abolish the bureaucratic system of GP payments, QOF and work towards a brand new Scottish GP contract from 2017 that will make primary care services fit for the future."