Current status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 October 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve GP retention.
The Scottish Government is fully committed to supporting primary care, including GPs, and ensuring that all communities in Scotland, including remote and rural, receive safe, reliable and sustainable health care services.
Over three years, the Scottish Government is investing £85 million, as part of the Primary Care Fund. As part of this, £2.5million will be invested in work to explore with key stakeholders the issues surrounding GP recruitment and retention which can be particularly challenging in remote and rural areas. This will support a range of initiatives over the next two years including the establishment of a Scottish Rural Medicine Collaborative in seven health boards, including NHS Grampian. This initiative will bring together recruitment strategies and support networks for GPs working in remote and rural areas.
We have established short-life working groups with partners, including both British Medical Association (BMA) and Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), to explore ways to improve sustainability of practices, and make recommendations on tackling workload pressures and addressing issues with GP premises.