Re Chairman moves to reassure patients over new GP contracts (The Oban Times, May 31), I find it unfortunate Dr Alan McDevitt has resorted to sugar-coating the real concerns of rural GPs and their patients, which are also being parked until a later date by the Scottish Government.
Dr McDevitt states ‘claims of impending funding cuts are not true’ and that rural practices’ funding is protected. This in the short term, but only for three to five years when subsidies created by the new GP contract will be reassessed.
Under the new GP contract a ‘work allocation system’ is created in the contract. Around 80 per cent of GP practices in rural Scotland are on ‘protected income status’, but this has only been guaranteed for three to five years.