GPs should receive more funding to redress the balance where practitioners get less than 8% of the NHS budget for doing 90% of patient contacts, the Conservatives have said.

Ruth Davidson said there is "a real crisis" in GP care, with the BMA reporting one in three Scottish GPs hope to retire in the next five years.

The Conservative leader visited a surgery in Edinburgh which is being taken over by the council to outline her pledge to provide more GP funding.

She called for the share of NHS funding in general practice to rise to at least 10% of all health spending by 2020, alongside GP training, recruitment and retention targets.

She said: "We need to have a long-term plan for looking after GP services.

"90% of people's contact in terms of health is through general practice but it gets less than 7% of the NHS budget in Scotland.

"The Royal College says that's got to change and we support their plans to increase the money within the health budget that's directed to general practice because it saves money down the line."

She added: "GP surgeries in all parts of the country are just swamped under the weight and they cannot cope.

"Doctors are telling us they cannot cope, patients are telling us they can't get on a list and they can't get an appointment.

"Something has got to give, so we have got to get a really strategic look at how we support this."

Conservative health spokesman Donald Cameron said: "We are facing a GP crisis right across Scotland and it is time the SNP acted.

"Extra funding for general practice would help us deliver a better local service for people right across Scotland, so you can actually get an appointment when you need it, instead of waiting at the end of a phone line."

The Royal College of GPs (RCGPs) welcomed the call.

Chair Dr Miles Mack said: "RCGP Scotland has been calling for such an approach for almost three years.

"We have been advocating for the decade's worth of cuts to the percentage share of NHS Scotland budget that general practice receives to be reversed, through incremental increases, until it reaches 11% of the budget.

"As the First Minister said of the current provision, on April 28, 'we've got to increase that percentage'. The benefits of that change in trend will be felt throughout the NHS.

"Until general practice is properly funded to allow patients the appropriate alternative, A&E departments, for example, can continue to expect increases in patient numbers, with subsequent pressures and effects on target achievement."

Health Secretary Shona Robison said: "While Scotland continues to have the highest number of GPs per patient in the UK, we are working to transform primary care and GP services, and have already committed to giving primary care an increasing share of NHS budget in each year of this parliament.

"Last year we confirmed an extra 100 GP training places to encourage more medical students into the profession, including a recruitment grant aimed at encouraging trainees to take up posts in hard to fill locations.

"We are also increasing our support for schemes that bring experienced GPs back into the health service."