The number of GPs in Scotland has decreased slightly since last year, with more trainees but a fall in the number of practice partners.
Figures published by Public Health Scotland (PHS) suggested the total number of GPs in Scotland was 5,209, including performer registrars/specialist trainees, a rise of 32 compared with last year.
However, excluding trainees takes this figure down to 4,515 – a fall of 23 on the previous year – as there was an increase of 55 trainees on last year.
The number of ‘performer’ GPs, usually a practice partner, fell by 2% since last year and has decreased steadily over the last 10 years, with a corresponding increase in the number of salaried GPs – which increased by 5% on last year. The number of ‘performer retainees’, typically part-time GPs, fell by 11%.
The report also found that female GPs made up 62% of GPs in Scotland and 30% of GPs were aged 50 and over, down from a high of 34% in 2013.
The number of practices in Scotland decreased by 9% from 997 to 911 practices since 2012, which the report said ‘along with the overall increase in the general practice population has led to an increase in average practice list size… largely driven by practice mergers and a trend towards larger practices with more GPs serving a larger number of patients’.
The number of patients registered with GP practices has been rising slowly year on year and has increased by 6% since 2012. The number of patients aged 65 and over increased by 20% during that same period, which the report acknowledged ‘presents a significant challenge for primary care services’.
The most recent General Practice Workforce Survey estimated that there were 3,494 WTE GPs in Scotland in 2022, excluding specialist trainees, a decrease of 3% year-on-year.
More than a third of Scottish practices have reported at least one GP vacancy, compared to just over a quarter this time last year, the BMA warned last month, while GPC Scotland chair Dr Andrew Buist said in his opening speech to the Scottish LMC conference earlier this month that general practice is Scotland was being ‘strangled by a severe lack of funding for an adequate workforce and drowned in a sea of workload’.
Picture credit: James Stringer
