Walk-in docs disappointment

SCEPTICS have poured cold water on SNP plans for walk-in GP centres after the party failed to deliver replacement surgeries in Scots towns.

- BY CHRIS MCCALL

John Swinney used his speech at the SNP conference on Monday to promise to build 15 clinics where patients will be able to see a family doctor without an appointment, between noon and 8pm seven days a week.

The First Minister said that the new facilities would be staffed by GPs and would put to an end the 8am rush Scots currently face to book appointments.

Swinney promised the first site would be up and running "within the year", despite other health construction projects across the country facing repeated delays.

The announcement comes as a long-awaited health centre in Kincardine, Fife, has still not started construction despite winning planning approval.

Patients have described the town's existing GP surgery - in a 1920s-style cottage - as "like walking into your gran's house".

The £8million replacement was delayed after SNP ministers decided in 2023 to withhold funding until "the second half of the decade" as it was deemed to be no longer a priority.

Graeme Downie, Labour MP for Dunfermline and Dollar, criticised Swinney's announcement and called for Kincardine's local MSP - Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville - to step in.

He told the Record: "This is a desperate pledge from John Swinney to cover up his government's failure to provide proper GP services in Scotland for the last 20 years.