A leading medical body in Scotland has issued a dire warning about the state of the National Health Service (NHS), stating that it requires urgent reforms to avoid further collapse. The British Medical Association (BMA) Scotland conducted a survey of doctors, revealing widespread concern about the impact of increasing pressures on the NHS.
Scotland's leading medical body has warned that the NHS will struggle to make it through another year without urgent reforms. The British Medical Association (BMA) Scotland, has issued its annual New Year message with a stark caution over the state of the health service. The doctors' union said 'transformative' changes were needed and predicted a large increase in people going private. The Scottish government said it was 'listening to clinical opinions' to steer how it delivered services.
Dr Iain Kennedy, BMA Scotland chairman, warned that the 'time for words had passed' and that in 2025, there must be 'action in the form of reform'. He said: 'Doctors are finding themselves working in a system that is neither prepared nor staffed adequately. 'They are struggling to cope in an NHS that is in constant crisis, which is both mentally and physically exhausting.'The doctor said measures were needed to ensure the NHS remained free at the point of need and measures were essential to protect the health service long term. 'We cannot continue to simply plug gaps with short-term funding,' he said. 'There needs to be a whole system approach, looking at primary, secondary and social care, how they are appropriately funded and how they interact. 'We know that the pressures we are seeing on the acute services are linked to lack of resources in general practice and social care, so to help guide the overall reform we need an urgent, comprehensive workforce plan.'BMA Scotland's annual winter pressures survey - of 980 doctors - found 99% of respondents were either extremely concerned (76%) or concerned (23%) about the impact of increased pressures on the NHS throughout winter. Seventy per cent said the NHS was in 'crisis mode' all year round, and 84% did not believe the NHS had enough staff to cope with the increase in demand this winte
NHS Scotland Medical Crisis Reforms Doctors Warning Workforce Shortages
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