Scottish GPs Running on Decades-old IT Systems, MSPs hear

Insights from the BMA Scotland union, reporting to the Scottish Public Audit Committee, highlight the type of real-world challenges Healthcare IT faces today.

As Holyrood reports a recent discussion at Holyrood’s public audit committee revealed significant concerns about the state of IT infrastructure supporting Scotland’s GPs, with some systems dating back over two decades.

The outdated technology, described as being of “exceedingly poor quality” by the British Medical Association (BMA), is compounding an ongoing crisis in general practice.

“We’re running on Internet Explorer 8 software, 2004 servers, we have multiple systems trying to speak to legacy systems. It’s very hard for the IT system to have robust data capture that can be reliable and easily interpretable.”

The committee’s session, which focused on an Audit Scotland report, highlighted systemic issues including inadequate funding, workforce challenges, and persistent patient access problems, such as the notorious “8am rush” for appointments.

The BMA’s Scotland GP committee chair, Dr. Alan McDevitt, emphasized that the antiquated IT systems are a major barrier to efficient service delivery. These systems, some of which predate the early 2000s, struggle to meet the demands of modern healthcare, leading to inefficiencies that frustrate both practitioners and patients.

The lack of investment in upgrading these systems has been compounded by broader financial pressures on general practice. Dr. McDevitt noted that funding for GP services has not kept pace with inflation, effectively amounting to a real-terms cut over recent years. This erosion of resources has left many practices unable to operate at full capacity, with some trained GPs finding themselves under-employed despite a growing demand for primary care services.

The Audit Scotland report, which served as the basis for the committee’s discussion, painted a stark picture of the challenges facing general practice in Scotland. It criticized the Scottish Government for failing to deliver on promises to address workload and capacity issues within the sector.

The report pointed to the “8am rush”—where patients flood phone lines and online systems at the start of the day to secure appointments—as a persistent symbol of the system’s strain. This bottleneck not only frustrates patients but also places immense pressure on GP staff, contributing to burnout and retention issues among healthcare professionals.

MSPs on the committee expressed concern that the Scottish Government’s efforts to reform primary care have fallen short. The report underscored a lack of progress in implementing measures to alleviate pressure on GPs, such as increasing the number of appointments available or improving access to alternative healthcare providers.

In response, the Scottish Liberal Democrats put forward a proposal to bolster general practice by expanding the roles of allied health professionals. Their plan includes recruiting more pharmacists, physiotherapists, and mental health specialists to work alongside GPs, thereby increasing the overall capacity of primary care services and reducing the burden on doctors.

The committee’s findings highlight a broader need for systemic reform in Scotland’s primary care sector. Modernizing IT infrastructure, addressing funding shortfalls, and rethinking workforce deployment are all critical steps toward alleviating the pressures on GPs.

Without significant intervention, the challenges facing general practice—exacerbated by decades-old technology and under-resourcing—risk undermining the quality and accessibility of healthcare for patients across Scotland. The Scottish Government now faces renewed calls to prioritize these issues and deliver tangible improvements to a sector under strain.