Nicola Sturgeon has been urged to match a Tory election pledge to hire more doctors and slash GP waiting times.
The Conservative programme, unveiled today, would see an extra 6,000 doctors and 6,000 primary care staff, such as physios and pharmacists, hired over the next four years.
The £2 billion plan would result in an extra 50 million GP appointments per year across England and would see Scotland handed an additional £200 million in Barnett consequentials.
Tory health spokesman Miles Briggs MSP said all the cash should be directed to GP services in Scotland.
He said: “We are facing a GP crisis in Scotland and Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP government are failing to address it.
“Audit Scotland warned earlier this year that the SNP government will struggle to recruit the GPs we need over the coming decade.”
“Every penny of this welcome boost to the Scottish budget must be spent tackling our GP crisis.”
An SNP spokesman pointed to the First Minister’s speech yesterday as evidence the party were committed to the NHS.
Ms Sturgeon set out that the SNP would bring forward an “NHS Protection Bill” in the next parliamentary session at Westminster to ensure the service is guarded.
Mr Briggs dismissed the idea however, saying the Bill was nothing more than a “meaningless gesture”.
