Thousands of Scots are paying £100 for check-ups with private GPs amid the waiting times crisis engulfing the health service.
An unprecedented number of independent clinics, once the preserve of the wealthy, have been set up since the pandemic as NHS patients struggle to be seen.
The move comes as growing numbers of GP surgeries across the country close their doors, fuelling overcrowding in A&E units.
One private GP who set up a clinic in January said he already has 200 patients on his books.
Private doctors offer face-to- face check-ups from £100 for 15 minutes and charge from £35 for phone appointments.
Scots are paying £100 for check-ups with private GPs as NHS patients struggle to be seen
At least three private surgeries have set up since the pandemic, in Edinburgh, St Andrews and the Borders.
The Scottish Conservatives said the SNP Government had left patients with ‘no option’ but to pay for their care.
Dr David Richardson, who set up private practice Edinburgh GP Ltd in January, has 200 patients. He said people who would ‘never have considered’ going private are doing so because of difficulties in getting NHS appointments.
Dr Richardson added: ‘Most of the patients attending my practice come from modest means and would previously never have considered a private GP.
The most obvious reason for this change is the access problems to many NHS GP practices.’
Figures from the British Medical Association show 79 GP practices across Scotland, or almost 10 per cent of the total, have closed their lists to new patients, up from 19 in 2018.
Analysis by the Scottish Liberal Democrats found there are 17 fewer practices in Glasgow than there were a decade ago, 16 fewer in Lanarkshire, 11 fewer in Grampian and eight fewer in the Highlands.
Party leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: ‘Increasing numbers of practices are being forced to close their patient lists because they do not have sufficient resources to meet their patient needs.’
The decline in GP practices in Scotland is fuelling a surge in visitors to A&E departments, leading to spiralling waiting times for patients.
The number waiting longer than 12 hours rose to 1,447 in the week to March 31, up from 1,348 the previous week.
Only 62.7 per cent of patients were seen and then admitted, transferred or discharged in the four-hour target – down from 65.3 per cent the previous week.
Other private firms which have set up since the pandemic include the Cademuir Clinic in Peebles and the St Andrews Private GP Clinic.
As well as £100 check-ups, services offered by private doctors include £300 home visits and £550 health screenings.
A clinic run by Dr David Mickel in Elgin, Moray, offers online and phone appointments only.
Its website states Dr Mickel ‘shares the frustration of the population in their difficulties accessing an underfunded and understaffed NHS’.
The number of GP practices in Scotland has fallen by almost 100 in a decade to 897, while GP numbers dropped from 4,514 in 2022 to 4,474 last year
Often NHS patients have to phone surgeries first thing in the morning for an appointment, but slots fill up rapidly.
When GP practices are too busy, they will divert patients to NHS 111 or A&E.
Scottish Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane said: ‘The SNP has left far too many patients no option but to pay to see a GP. Health Secretary Neil Gray must step up to avoid more patients taking this desperate action.’
The Scottish Government said it was ‘fully committed to increasing the number of GPs in Scotland’.