GPS are facing the "biggest workforce crisis in a generation", a Scots doctor has warned.
Dr Hal Maxwell claimed that the health service was "bleeding GPs at both ends of their careers" with more of the family doctors needed if the current system is to survive in the long-term.
Dr Maxwell, a GP in Ballantrae, South Ayrshire, told how many doctors were cutting back their hours "just to survive" while others were opting to leave the profession early because of workload pressure.
A Scottish Government spokesman said the number of GPs had increased by 5.7% since 2006.
But Dr Maxwell told the British Medical Association annual conference in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, that a fifth of practices in his local area had unfilled vacancies.
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