Scotland’s GP numbers the highest in the UK

The SNP has said its plan for the NHS is working as new figures showed that the number of operations performed by the NHS in Scotland in October reached the highest level since the Covid pandemic.
 
The SNP Government invested record sums in the NHS in this year’s budget and the results are showing with 271,328 operations performed in October – a 4.6% increase from last year. This follows figures last week which showed that long waits over a year for both outpatient and inpatient procedures have fallen for five months in a row.
 
Meanwhile the number of GPs in Scotland continues to rise with new figures showing there were an additional 171 GPs since September 2024. This means Scotland has the highest headcount of GPs per head in the UK with 83 GPs per 100,000 population, compared with 67 in Wales and 64 in England, according to the latest data available.
 
The Scottish Government recently announced a new £531 million historic deal with GPs which will further boost recruitment and retention. Along with the SNP’s plans to introduce GP walk-in clinics, people will continue to find it easier to access GP services.

Since 2007, the NHS has seen a 20% increase in the number of frontline staff – up by over 60,000 under the SNP.