Robison in vow to back junior doctors

HEALTH Secretary Shona Robison said she is committed to making Scotland “as attractive a place as possible” for junior doctors after it emerged that the exodus of newly-qualified medics from Scotland is double the rate for the rest of the UK.

The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow revealed 16.6 per cent of those who graduate in medicine from Scottish universities have gone overseas within three years, compared to 7.6 per cent south of the Border.

RCPSG president Frank Dunn, blamed the trend on medics returning to their home nations, and a “wanderlust” luring Scottish doctors to Australia, Singapore or developing nations to work.

The profession in Scotland is facing a recruitment crisis in some disciplines, particularly general practice, acute and emergency medicine. But Dr Dunn says the remedy could be to put more medical students through medical school in the first place.

Earlier this week, Ms Robison told a Herald-sponsored summit on the future of the NHS in Scotland that she wanted to see medical students drawn from a wider socioeconomic base, adding that “for every 10 qualified applicants there is only one place at medical school”.

Responding to the RCPSG figures on junior doctors, Ms Robison said: “Junior doctors are our future medical leaders and we are committed to making Scotland as attractive a place as possible for them.

“In February this year we stopped junior doctors working seven full shift nights in a row, and by February 2016 no junior doctor will work for more than seven days in a row in any shift pattern.

“Furthermore all junior doctor rotas in Scotland comply fully with the working time regulations, which includes an average working week of 48 hours or less.

“Under this government there are record numbers of doctors employed in NHS Scotland and since 2006 we have seen a 23.6 per cent rise in the numbers of medical staff from 9,600 to 11,868.”