£2.5m bid to ease GP crisis attracts only 18 recruits

A MAJOR drive to boost Scotland’s flagging GP workforce has so far lured only 18 doctors.

The three-year £2.5million GP Recruitment and Retention Programme was set up by the Scottish Government in 2015.

The number of GP practices in Scotland dropped from 1,027 in 2007 to 963 in 2016, a fall of 6 per cent.

In the same period, practice lists – the number of patients registered with a GP surgery – rose 12 per cent on average from 5,280 to 5,880. According to predictions, Scotland will have a shortfall of around 850 family doctors by 2021.

Yesterday, the Scottish Tories warned that the SNP had ‘failed miserably’ in its attempt to tackle the ‘crisis’.

Health spokesman Miles Briggs said: ‘This (the recruitment scheme) was launched with the promise of delivering GPs for rural and deprived areas. Instead, it has led to a handful of new appointments which will barely have had any impact at all. Indeed, at this rate it would take this scheme almost a century to address the shortage of 856 GPs we’re expected to have.

‘This is just another blatant failing of the SNP workforce planning, and the consequences on the ground are a population struggling to get a GP appointment, and those family doctors who are left feeling the strain.’

The recruitment scheme aims to boost the number of medical students choosing to go into GP training, as well as encouraging recruits to work in rural and economically deprived areas.

The number of GPs in Scotland has remained at around 4,900 since 2008 but the Tories have raised concerns that up to 3,000 may have left the country to work abroad in recent years.

In September, the Mail reported how receptionists are being trained to screen patients in a scheme designed to cut the number of GP appointments.

The Scottish Government announced in March that cash for the GP recruitment project would increase to £5million next year, helping to fund bursaries and expand a scheme to encourage retired practitioners to return.

Figures show that it has helped recruit five family doctors in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, three in NHS Ayrshire and Arran, two in NHS Borders, one in NHS Lothian and seven in NHS Tayside.

Dr Alan McDevitt, chairman of the British Medical Association’s Scottish GP committee, said a new contract with the Government could help boost recruitment. He added: ‘Not enough junior doctors are making the choice to train as GPs in order to meet the needs of patients, so it is essential that we do everything possible to make becoming a GP an attractive career choice.

‘The new GP contract that we are currently negotiating can play an important part in that by addressing the severity of the workload GPs face.

‘While schemes like the GP recruitment and retention programme have tried to find new ways to encourage more doctors to become GPs, ultimately it is only by making a career as a GP more attractive that the recruitment challenges will be addressed.’

Health Secretary Shona Robison said: ‘We have increased investment in GP services, investing £71.6million this year in direct support of general practice, including increased funding for GP recruitment and retention.

‘The recruitment and retention programme has successfully delivered more GPs and builds on a wide range of initiatives that encourage GPs to enter and remain in the profession.’

‘Barely have had any impact at all’