GPS in Scotland want to offer patients longer appointments, but feel their workload is compromising the care they can provide, according to a new survey.

Just eight per cent of family doctors north of the Border believe the current 10 minute time slot is long enough for most patients.

Around two-thirds felt it would be better to provide "longer consultations of greater quality and safety", even if that meant people had to wait longer for a routine appointment.

The findings were published by the British Medical Association (BMA) days after the Labour Party unveiled an election campaign poster claiming the Coalition Government has made it harder to see a GP.

The party said the number of surgeries opening during evenings and weekends in England has fallen by almost 600 since the last election.

There is little enthusiasm for longer opening hours among Scottish doctors too, with 80 per cent of those who took part in the BMA survey in Scotland saying normal surgery opening hours were sufficient. There was more support in London and the south east of England for finding ways to provide appointments outside these times.

Scottish doctors felt patient care would be most improved by offering longer consultations, with 75 per cent listing this as their top priority. Three-quarters also felt their workload sometimes had a detrimental impact on the care they offered patients and a further 17 per cent described the problem as "significant".

Dr Colette Maule, co-negotiator of the BMA's Scottish GP committee, said: "This survey reflects the immense pressure that GPs working across Scotland are feeling just now.

"The rising workload is simply unsustainable and something has to change otherwise general practice will break. Giving us more time with patients, expanding the GP workforce and supporting the practice based primary care team will help to ensure the quality of care our patients receive remains of a high standard. In addition, providing stable funding arrangements to meet the rising costs of providing increasingly complex care in the community will alleviate some of the helplessness that GPs are clearly feeling just now."

BMA Scotland has already warned that the country is facing a critical shortage of GPs. Health board NHS Forth Valley has already had to take over a surgery with 4500 patients in Falkirk because the doctors running the practice could not fill an empty post and, it is understood, the workload was too much for those left behind.

Dr Maule said: "Politicians need to stop fixating on how they can demand more from general practice and instead focus on what they can do to support GPs to provide the quality of care that our patients deserve within the constraints that exist."

More than 1800 GPs in Scotland took part in the survey, out of 4918 who work for the NHS. There were 15,560 responses from doctors across the UK.

Scottish Health Secretary Shona Robison said: "The recently agreed new GP contract in Scotland will give general practice financial stability, reducing the bureaucratic burden and freeing up GPs to spend more time with patients.

"Individual GP practices determine their appointment and consultation arrangements. The length of a consultation will vary depending on the clinical needs of the individual patient and is a matter of professional judgement for the GP.

"The Scottish Government is determined to continue supporting and sustaining Scottish general practice. Under this Government spending on GP services has increased by £69.7 million or 10 per cent."