HEALTH chiefs have said "robust plans" are in place to deal with the impact of the Christmas holidays on the NHS, despite fears that A&E departments could become overwhelmed with patients when GP practices close their doors.

HEALTH chiefs have said "robust plans" are in place to deal with the impact of the Christmas holidays on the NHS, despite fears that A&E departments could become overwhelmed with patients when GP practices close their doors.

Most family doctors surgeries are to close for eight days over the Christmas and New Year period, leading the College of Emergency Medicine to state it has "genuine concerns" over a lack of alternative medical provision.

Health Secretary Shona Robison said more than £18m had been invested to help health boards prepare for winter, with the cash going towards tackling delayed discharges and easing pressure in emergency departments.

However, the SNP came under fire from opposition MSPs, who said more should have been done to ensure services could cope during the winter period.

Under the terms of their contract, family doctors have not been obliged to offer out of hours care since 2004. However, the fact that weekends immediately follow two-day Christmas and New Year breaks this year, coupled with increased strain on emergency departments caused by problems recruiting doctors and soaring patient numbers, have sparked concern that hospitals could face a crisis this Christmas.

Some health boards have offered financial incentives to GPs to open up over Christmas, however in the Grampian region, only one has agreed.

The Royal College of General Practitioners in Scotland said that it was vital that surgeries informed patients about opening times and how to access out of hours services. It moved to reassure patients that normal services would be running on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday between Christmas and New Year.

Miles Mack, chair of the organisation, said: "GPs often provide extended opening hours and where this is impacted by the bank holidays additional sessions are provided at alternative times in the week. Since 2004 GP contacts have risen by 2.5 million across Scotland to 24.2 million a year despite a fall in the proportion of NHS funding going to general practice from 9.5 per cent to 7.8 per cent."

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: "As it does every year, NHS Scotland has robust plans in place for reducing the impact of the Christmas holiday period. This includes preparing for the impact on hospital and out-of-hours services, including NHS 24, as well as on primary care in the period immediately afterwards.

"In addition NHS 24 are running their Be Health-Wise This Winter campaign to advise people to check that they have cold and flu remedies and repeat prescriptions and know the opening times of their local pharmacy and GP. It focuses on the important message that people know who best to turn to when they are ill."