Scotland's family doctors say the government has deemed them "dispensable" under the latest budget plans and that patients have "every right to worry".

The Scottish Government has allocated £735.1m in its draft budget for 2016/17 to general medical services - a figure GPs say is insufficient to cope with the current "workforce crisis".

One in three GPs is aged 50 or over, approaching retirement age, and surgeries across Scotland say they struggle to recruit new doctors, particularly in rural communities.

Concerns were raised over the rise in consultations - an increase of 11% over the past ten years - as well as the complexity of conditions in Scotland's ageing population.

GPs have warned that patient care is ultimately "at risk" and the government's budgetary plans are part of a wider "strategy" to reduce the role of a GP.

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.

Dr Miles Mack, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners in Scotland, said: "It is now clear that the Scottish Government’s true vision is one in which the public should expect to get by without GPs as their prime provider of care.

"Evidence clearly supports the effectiveness and importance of the expertise of general practitioners as central to a safe, effective patient centred service.

"We are told of trials of ‘new models of care’ with absolutely no detail offered and no progress reported. It appears that the Scottish Government views general practice as dispensable."

Government ministers argue the budget for general medical services is increasing in real terms by 1.9% above inflation. Health secretary Shona Robison said this will have a "beneficial impact" on primary care, with investment in services such as ambulances and increased health visitors.

She added: "Funding for GPs has increased each year under this Government. However, it is important that the investment made to general practice is seen in a broader context.

"This is supported by extra investment. We've committed £60m over three years through the Primary Care Transformation Fund and recently announced an extra £25m for primary care in the 2016/17 draft budget.

"We have also 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."

Labour public services spokesperson Dr Richard Simpson dubbed a negotiation of GP contracts "without first having a vision of general practice" as a "recipe for disaster".

He said: "Our NHS is Scotland’s most valued public service. Now more than ever we need a health service free at the point of need to deliver the care Scots deserve regardless of how much money they earn.

"This SNP government has no clear vision of primary care or the role of GPs for the medium to long term. Without such a vision backed by better funding general practice is condemned to continue the long slow decline it has experienced since the SNP took power.

"We need to ensure that a health service established in the 1940s is fit to meet the challenges we will face in the 2040s.

"That means a long term vision based on primary care and social care to take the pressure off of our hospitals. After eight years in government, a majority in parliament and more power than ever before the SNP have no excuses for their failure to act sooner to protect our health service."

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