The Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee will conclude its work this Parliament in March 2026 ahead of the next Scottish Parliament election. So the Committee has time to complete its work, it has agreed not to consider petitions submitted after 10 October.
The Committee will continue to meet but given the volume of petitions and agreed work programme it is unlikely that the Committee would be able to meaningfully progress work on petitions submitted after 10 October ahead of the election. Petitions lodged after this date will not fall when the Parliament is dissolved and will be for the successor committee to consider in the new session.
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Under consideration PE2070: Stop same-day-only GP appointment systems
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to stop GP surgeries from only allowing same-day appointment bookings, enabling patients also to make appointments for future dates.
Previous action taken
I emailed the First Minister, the Health Secretary and my NHS Board but have received no response.
Background information
I called my local GP to make an appointment with a doctor to be told there were none available for that day. I asked if there were any for the following days and was told I was unable to book an appointment in the future and I would need to try again at 8am the following morning but due to working full time and travelling at 8am each morning, I am unable to call each morning. I think this needs to change.
I once tried to call my GP at 8am and I rang over 100 times until I spoke to a receptionist, I was then told there were no appointments left for that day and to try again the following day.
The Scottish Government could consider an update to the General Medical Services contract as a possible route to address this issue.
505 signatures
This petition is now under consideration
Click here for further information about the consideration of this petition.