Another 800 GPs for NHS ‘in next decade’
SCOTLAND will have an extra 800 GPs over the next decade, the Health Secretary pledged yesterday.
Shona Robison told a meeting of family doctors that the move would ensure a ‘sustainable service for the future’.
GPs gathered in Glasgow to debate a landmark new contract that would ensure a minimum income of £80,000 and give doctors more time with patients such as those with complicated conditions.
It would see them hand over some of their current duties to other healthcare workers, who will be employed directly by health boards.
The contract has been drawn up amid a Scotland-wide crisis in GP care, with staff shortages across the country.
But concerns have been raised that the new deal will ‘sacrifice’ family doctors’ autonomy and cut funding to rural GPs.
Miss Robison also announced £7.5million in 2018-19 to recruit and retain GPs, particularly in rural areas. Support will be available for all 160 rural and remote practices, including ‘golden hellos’ of £10,000 to GPs taking up their first post in a rural practice and relocation packages of up to £5,000.
There are currently about 4,900 GPs in Scotland, but a quarter of clinics have at least one vacancy.
Speaking at a special British Medical Association (BMA) conference in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire, Miss Robison said: ‘GPs are an integral and crucial part of our health service.
‘The new GP contract, a historic joint agreement between the Scottish Government and the BMA, will ensure that GPs are able to spend more time with patients and less time on bureaucracy.
‘If accepted, it will help cut doctors’ overall workload and make general practice an even more attractive career prospect. However, we want to go further. As multi-disciplinary teams are developed further within GP practices, our ambition is to increase the number of GPs by at least 800 over ten years to ensure a sustainable service for the future.
Further details on how the GPs will be recruited will be in the Scottish Government’s forthcoming primary care workforce plan.
The proposed contract received a mixed reaction. Dr Iain Kennedy, Highland local medical committee secretary, told the meeting: ‘We are very concerned that our autonomy is being sacrificed and our assets are being stripped – losing the ability to control our staff is going to increase the risk of our workload rocketing.’
But the overall response of doctors was ‘overwhelmingly positive’ the BMA said. Most GPs agreed the deal would make general practice more attractive and address issues of sustainability and risk that have dogged the profession.
Dr Alan McDevitt, chairman of BMA Scotland’s GP committee, said: ‘Working towards delivering 800 additional GPs for Scotland is a sensible and realistic target and I look forward to the coming primary care workforce plan that will show how this is to be achieved.’
GPs will vote on the proposed contract, agreed jointly with the BMA, in the coming weeks.