GP virtual appointments to stay in Renfrewshire

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A Paisley GP has insisted family doctors are open for business but says patients will have to get used to phone and video consultations.Dr Stuart Sutton says there will be no return to how surgeries conducted business before the coronavirus pandemic but face-to-face GP slots are there for those who need them.It comes in the same week NHS bosses once again asked patients to stay away from “very busy” A&E departments unless their condition is life-threatening.NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde took the step on Tuesday, saying acute sites are under pressure.The move follows a string of issues at Paisley’s struggling Royal Alexandra Hospital, where hard-pressed staff have been complaining for months that “chronic” staff shortages had progressed to “dire” amidst allegations that their complaints to management had fallen on deaf ears.Unison stewards Barbara Steel and Margaret Duffy said workers at the RAH were burnt out battling the pandemic and staff shortages, including sickness, last October.Don't miss the latest headlines from around Renfrewshire.

Sign up to our newsletters here.They also pleaded with GPs to see more patients, saying a lack of reassurance and treatment was leading desperate patients to pile into A&E services at the RAH and other acute sites.The women highlighted further concerns at the hospital, which was this week revealed to have logged the highest ambulance wait for A&E transfer in Scotland - in December when they said bosses were cramming in more patients than staffing levels could safely accommodate.Figures obtained by Scottish Labour showed the highest ambulance turnaround time between October 1 last year and January 31 this year, was 10 hours and 43 minutes at the Corsebar Road hospital, meaning that the