The Scottish Government has announced ‘record levels of investment’ into medical training to create 153 new speciality posts, including 35 to train new GPs.
The additional training posts, costing £42m over the next four years, are being created to ‘help meet growing demand in a number of key specialties’, the Government said.
NHS Education for Scotland recommended uplifts in 24 different specialties overall, including general practice, anaesthetics, emergency and intensive care medicine, paediatrics, psychiatry and surgery.
RCGP Scotland said that this direct investment in expanding the GP workforce is ‘exactly what is needed if general practice is to return to a stable footing’.
However, the college added that it remains ‘sceptical’ that the Scottish Government will succeed in its goal to recruit an additional 800 GPs by 2027.
A spokesperson for the college said: ‘For meaningful workforce planning, we urgently need the Scottish Government to shift to counting the GP workforce in whole time equivalent terms, which more accurately reflects the reality that there has been a 3% drop in GP WTE numbers since 2019.
‘To reverse this alarming trend, efforts also need to be directed towards retaining the GP workforce that is currently active in Scotland.
‘As part of this, we would welcome targeted retention programmes which help more GPs stay in practice.
‘We are hopeful that the announced boost to trainee numbers will play an incremental role in alleviating the unsustainable pressures currently facing the NHS and its workforce.’
NHS Education for Scotland medical director Emma Watson said: ‘We welcome this announcement of additional posts across a wide range of specialties and in particular general practice.
‘The increase will ensure we can support our doctors to work more flexibly where communities need them.
‘We believe Scotland offers the highest quality medical education. Our trainees are a key part of the NHS workforce of the future – enabling us to offer better quality care and outcomes for every citizen in Scotland.’
Health secretary Michael Matheson said that funding for these additional places will help to relieve some of the pressures currently facing the health service.
He said: ‘The level of expansion taking place in 2024 – the largest ever – shows the Scottish Government’s continued investment and commitment to ensure that our health service is equipped to deliver timely and effective care to those who need it.
‘Under this government NHS staffing is at a historically high level – up by around 29,100 whole time equivalent.
‘We will continue to work with NHS Education for Scotland to support our trainees and ensure that we have a sufficient supply of doctors to meet future demand.’
The BMA issued a workforce warning at the beginning of the year, saying that about 2,000 new GPs are required to satisfy demand across practices in Scotland.
It comes as almost one in ten GP practices in Scotland has been taken over by health boards as staff shortages force partners into handing back their contracts, with data showing 76 GP surgeries out of 910 in Scotland (8.4%) are being run by a health board, or ‘are heading in that direction’.
Lets hope they don’t all emigrate to Oz when they finish GP Training.