Inverurie Medical Practice has warned a tax hike of £75,000 is preventing the recruitment of more staff following the Labour UK Government’s rise in employers’ National Insurance Contributions.
During a meeting with Harriet Cross MP and Douglas Lumsden MSP, the GP surgery said its tax bill will go up by tens of thousands, meaning it can’t take on additional staffing costs.
The practice is now having to plan month to month and has been left with the equivalent of one doctor to 3,000 patients. Health bosses say there should be one doctor to 1,200 patients.
It follows an announcement from Inverurie Medical Practice last month stating it would no longer accept appointment requests at the reception desk.
The move means appointments now need to be made over the phone to improve “service efficiency” while the ordering of repeat prescriptions via its answering machine has been axed.
Scottish Conservative Gordon and Buchan MP Harriet Cross, who raised the issue at Westminster, said: “The Labour UK Government’s decision to increase employer National Insurance contributions is short-sighted and will have disastrous implications on medical practices like Inverurie, as well as care homes and pharmacies.
“At the heart of these tax increases are patients who are already struggling to get an appointment.
“These worrying cost rises will leave GPs with no choice but to cut services and staff numbers at a time when there’s already a chronic shortage in rural areas.
“For a growing town like Inverurie and others across Aberdeenshire, this is a huge concern for local health provision.
“Not only is Labour’s rise in employers’ National Insurance Contributions harming businesses, but it is threatening the very future of general practice in Scotland which is why it must be reversed.”
