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MSP's GP meeting

Northeast Scotland Conservative MSP Alex Johnstone today held talks in Forfar with Susan Wilson of the Angus local healthcare co-operative over the new Angus GPs' out-of-hours scheme that has caused controversy locally in parts of the county, particularly in the Montrose area where concerns have been expressed over the level of consultation with the community before the new system was launched.

Speaking afterwards Alex Johnstone said:

" I was pleased to meet with general manager Susan Wilson to discuss the new pilot scheme for out-of-hours GP services in Angus and grateful for an explanation for the reasons behind the change which was made necessary by the new GP contracts and how the new system was running to date.

I received a number of welcome guarantees, not least that there would be no gaps in the system and that anyone who needs to see a GP out of hours will be able to see one, both in the Montrose area and across Angus.

I think there has been a realisation that the consultation process, particularly in the Montrose area, had a number of gaps but I was reassured that an inclusive consultation process will be carried out in terms of assessing how the system is working in practice and pleased to hear of plans for a public meeting in Montrose in around 8 weeks time on the subject and that information leaflets on the new system would be delivered to households in the area.

It is important that members of the public do provide feedback on the subject so that any initial problems can be ironed out.

Overall I am confident that the service has the ability to meet the needs of people living locally and I look forward to the system bedding down in the near future."