LEADING doctors are warning of a post-Brexit NHS crisis with the potential loss of 226 GPs creating a “negative affect” on the safety of over 226,000 patients in Scotland.

Dr Miles Mack, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners Scotland (RCGP Scotland), has called on all political parties to guarantee protection to GPs in Scotland who came to the country from the European Union.

The Dingwall resident said around 226 of Scotland’s GPs took their primary degree from a European Economic Area (EEA) country, and while the EEA does not perfectly match the European Union, these figures are a strong indicator of their origin.

Mack warned that their potential loss would cause grave concern for patient safety and the RCGP Scotland has put their fears at the top their manifesto, Promoting Core Values, launched today.

He said: “There is already a projected deficit of 828 whole-time equivalent GPs in Scotland, by 2021. Our manifesto for the coming General Election, calls for governments to facilitate the delivery of sufficient numbers of GPs to overcome it.

“To learn that Scotland could face the loss of an additional four per cent of its already stretched GP workforce is extremely worrying. It is one in 25 of Scotland’s GPs. It could negatively affect over 226,000 patients in Scotland.

“We are calling for Government to safeguard the GP workforce during international negotiations by guaranteeing the status of healthcare professionals already working in Scotland and the UK. Last June’s publication of the 2015 Primary Care Workforce Survey showed that numbers of whole time Equivalent GPs had already fallen by 90 since 2013.

“We have commented on the need to act immediately to halt that long-term pattern. We are now faced with a possible removal of a further 226 GPs who, as nationals of other EU member states, might be lost to the workforce if their status is not protected. Again, we must call for immediate action to prevent that clear harm to the health service.

“Repeated surveys have shown the considerable percentage of GPs in Scotland who plan to soon leave the service as a result of overwork and consistent underfunding. An enormous and urgent effort is required in Scotland to save general practice.”

SNP Westminster Health spokesperson Dr Philippa Whitford has said the continuing uncertainty over EU nationals working in the NHS in Scotland because of the Tory hard Brexit is “completely unacceptable”, adding: “This warning from the GPs shows how serious the threat to Scotland’s NHS is from Theresa May’s reckless hard Brexit.”