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The funding news comes two weeks after First Minister John Swinney announced plans to launch drop-in health services, which will be run by GPs and nurses. Initially the Scottish government plans to roll out 15 of these sites, the first of which is due to be operational by the end of the year. Swinney said they would operate seven days a week, from noon to 20:00, to tackle "the 08:00 rush for appointments" putting pressure on surgeries. The locations for these sites have not yet been confirmed, but Swinney said they would be based in communities, "on your local high street, near your child's school, or close to your workplace". But the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) was sceptical over how these centres would be staffed, particularly as Scotland's GP workforce has fallen in the last 10 years. The college's vice chair, Dr Chris Williams, also said that Swinney's promise to provide one million more appointments in a year was "not that large" compared to the current level of general practice activity. At the moment, a range of healthcare professionals - GPs, nurses and more - provide 720,000 appointments a week in Scotland. Speaking after the £531m funding was announced, the RCGP said the decision had the "potential to return general practice in Scotland to a more sustainable footing". Its chair in Scotland, Dr Chris Provan, said: "We are confident that this new direction of travel from the Scottish government will in time deliver the world class care that patients deserve."
