MUSSELBURGH’S MSP has held crisis talks with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care to address the “wholly unacceptable” situation many patients face at Riverside Medical Practice.

Colin Beattie MSP demanded that immediate action be taken after meeting Humza Yousaf MSP to express the “great concerns” over access to appointments, which had carried on for “too long”.

The Riverside – the largest practice in East Lothian and one of the biggest in Scotland, with about 19,000 patients – has come under continued fire from patients, who have complained of difficulties contacting the practice by phone and booking an appointment.

Following the head-to-head with Mr Yousaf last week, Mr Beattie said it was agreed by all parties that the demand for healthcare in Musselburgh had exceeded the capacity the practice, based at Musselburgh Primary Care Centre, could provide.

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Mr Beattie said: “This is a pre-pandemic issue where patients have struggled to access the first basic step in the healthcare system.

“I do not believe the severe circumstances Riverside patients encounter accessing healthcare are comparable to any other medical practice in the Lothian region.

“Following discussion with the Cabinet Secretary, I am glad he has personally taken this issue on board and wants to seek out a solution. This intervention is much required and I truly believe he wants to help the patients at Riverside access the healthcare they require.

“I have expressed my frustrations that meeting after meeting has taken place, yet no solution has been proposed to this long-term issue: a frustration the Cabinet Secretary shared with myself and my constituents.

“I remain concerned with the access issues at Riverside. The Cabinet Secretary understands action needs to be taken to resolve these issues and I hope he and his team can work with East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership (ELHSCP) to find an urgent and much-needed solution.”

And he added: “I want to reassure my constituents that I am focused on solving these access issues and working with all parties to do so.

“I hope to meet again with the Cabinet Secretary in the coming weeks for an update.”

Dr Richard Fairclough, GP partner at Riverside, acknowledged that it continued to be “extremely busy” at the practice and at many other general practices across Scotland.

“Our data shows that there remains a gap between the number of GP appointments requested by patients and the number of appointments our doctors can safely provide each day,” he said.

“Our large team of hard-working clinicians continue to provide what our patients almost universally recognise to be high-quality care, offering an extremely large number of appointments each week to everyone from newborns up to the very elderly.”

Four new GPs have just been recruited and will be joining the practice in February and March.

And Dr Fairclough added: “We recognise that some of our administrative processes may not be as convenient for patients as we’d like, so are currently exploring ways we can make a range of interactions with the practice easier all around. We also continue to work hard on various other initiatives to allow us to match capacity to patient demand as far as we possibly can.

“We work together with our colleagues in the CWIC [Care When It Counts] team to see as many patients as we can each day.

“However, we and ELHSCP – which runs the CWIC service – have both noted that we believe each of our teams are already working at capacity, in terms of the volume of healthcare they are able to deliver.

“We have consistently offered access to our data and remain eager to work with all relevant parties to try and bring about a solution for our patients.”

An ELHSCP spokesperson said: “Riverside Medical Practice, East Lothian Health & Social Care Partnership and NHS Lothian/the Primary Care Contracts Organisation (PCCO) and Lothian LMC (Lothian Local Medical Committee) met on December 9. All agreed that continuing issues with access to primary care in Musselburgh are distressing and agreed a commitment to working collaboratively to explore potential solutions.

“Riverside Medical Practice and ELHSCP both noted that they believed each of their teams were already working at capacity in terms of the volume of healthcare they were able to deliver.

“Following the meeting with the Cabinet Secretary, we have agreed to discuss options with the practice and meet again in the coming weeks.

“We look forward to providing an update on this important issue after our next meeting.”