Concerns have been raised over the “struggle” people are said to be experiencing in Renfrewshire as they attempt to see a GP in person.

Elected members have asked the local authority to write to health secretary Humza Yousaf to ask that “more be done” by the Scottish Government to “restore confidence” in general practices.

Councillor Iain McMillan brought the issue forward at Thursday’s full meeting – revealing the frustrations some of his constituents are having as they try to organise a face-to-face appointment.

He said: “I don’t think there’s anybody in this room who has failed to notice the struggle that our constituents – indeed maybe ourselves – have in trying to get to see a GP face-to-face or actually get into the doctor’s surgery, it can prove quite difficult.”

The Labour group leader recounted reports in November, which estimated there may be as many as 312 vacancies across GP practices in Scotland.

At that time, more than a third of surveyed surgeries said they had at least one GP vacancy, while 81 per cent of practices said demand was exceeding capacity and 42 per cent said it “substantially” exceeded capacity.

Dr Andrew Buist, chairman of the British Medical Association’s (BMA) Scottish GP committee, expressed worries that a “tipping point” had been reached for some practices.

After relaying this information in the chambers, Councillor McMillan, who represents Johnstone South and Elderslie, added: “I must admit I find my own practice quite difficult to see the GP, although they do services in other ways.

“Now, I’m not a complete Luddite, I know things move on and sometimes it’s appropriate to go elsewhere or send a photograph or film of what the problem is, I accept that.

“Things change and things move on but there is a substantial amount of our population who wants to see a doctor.

“When that is not available, these people can struggle – sometimes things can be misdiagnosed, sometimes, particularly men, can just say, ‘well I can’t see my doctor, it’s not that bad, I’ll just carry on’ and before you know it, that wee thing suddenly becomes a major thing.

“I think it’s really important that people can see their doctor.”

SNP councillor Jennifer Adam, vice chair of Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Integration Joint Board (IJB), said general practices were under “significant pressure” because of a national shortage of GPs.

She said: “We’ve got 28 GP practices within Renfrewshire. All are independent contractors providing first point of contact for people in the healthcare system.

“Since the pandemic, we have had a number of changes to the way services have been delivered, with an increase of uses like triage, telephone consultations and digital consultations, offering where appropriate face-to-face appointments.

“That remained in place throughout the pandemic in all our practices and GPs haven’t stopped seeing people… General practice is obviously under significant pressure across Scotland with a national workforce shortage of GPs in particular.”

She explained that if patients are experiencing difficulty accessing their own practice, they should raise that with the service.

Councillor Adam, who represents Paisley Northeast and Ralston, then added: “What I can assure you is that our clinical director and the primary care support team are committed to working with practices, where challenges have been expressed, to ensure ease of access of GP services to all our Renfrewshire residents.”

Summing up before his motion was agreed, Councillor McMillan, a member of the IJB, said he knew doctors were doing “good work” in communities.

He added: “The bottom line is satisfaction in our GP services is at the lowest level in 10 years and we need to do something about that.”