8. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure the long-term sustainability of general practice. (S6O-02211)

We are absolutely committed to the long-term sustainability of general practice. We continue to make good progress on increasing the general practitioner workforce. Since 2017, GP head count has increased by 291 and a record 5,209 GPs are now working in Scotland. We remain committed to the GP contract and the delivery of extended multidisciplinary teams, making it easier for patients to see the right person, at the right time, in GP practices and the community. We have recruited more than 3,220 healthcare professionals since 2018 to support GP practices through our £170 million primary care improvement fund.

In Fife, the Rosyth practice has become the latest to fall under the direct management of NHS Fife. The medical director of NHS Fife has said:

“The GP Partners at Park Road medical practice are independent contractors of the Health Board. They have confirmed, following the retirement of one of their GP Partners, that they are now no longer able to continue to manage the practice.”

That follows the news that the total number of full-time, whole-time equivalent GPs in Scotland fell by 119 between 2019 and 2022, despite a rise in patient numbers.

I have tried to ask NHS Fife to establish how many GPs are due to retire in the next few years, but it is very difficult to get that information. Does the Government hold that information? What plans are you putting in place to address that? As it stands, the information that I am getting is that more and more GPs are ready to retire; the crisis will get worse. What will you do to deal with that?

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

I remind members to speak through the chair, please.

I hear the point that the member is making about the information that he has not been able to get from NHS Fife. I will undertake to see whether we can get that information for him.

As I have already outlined, we are taking forward a range of different measures, including recruiting more GPs, increasing the number of training places that are available for GPs and expanding the workforce that supports GPs through primary care services. All those measures are collective actions that we are taking to address the issues that the member has highlighted. It is important that general practice is seen as being an attractive place for individuals to work.

I assure the member of my determination to make sure that we do everything that we can to support general practice, expand the primary care services, make general practices attractive locations for GPs and wider multidisciplinary teams to work in and make sure that patients get the appropriate care in the right place within their local communities. I hope that I can assure the member that the actions that we are taking will address the issues that he has highlighted.

The cabinet secretary has commented on ScotGEM a couple of times. Does he recognise the positive feedback that I have had from NHS Dumfries and Galloway regarding the programme, which is unique to Scotland?

The member is right that ScotGEM is proving to be an effective programme that provides graduate entry medical degrees with a focus on rural practice. It is an important part of a wider range of programmes that we have in place to encourage individuals into general practice in rural areas. I want to make sure that we build on that programme. We are also committed to developing our remote and rural workforce recruitment strategy, which will be published by the end of next year. We are committed to supporting employers to ensure that health and social care staff in our remote and rural areas are able to meet the needs of their local communities in the years ahead.

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

That concludes portfolio questions on NHS recovery, health and social care. There will be a short pause before we move on to the next item of business.