3. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve recruitment and retention of GPs and consultants, particularly in rural areas. (S6O-03048)

Improving recruitment and retention of GPs and other doctors is vital to Scotland’s health in all localities, including rural areas. We provide a range of support to the GP workforce, including a rural-specific graduate entry medical degree, the Scottish graduate entry medicine programme—ScotGEM—golden hellos for harder-to-fill posts and bursaries for GP specialty training, which are all aimed at attracting GPs to work in rural Scotland.

The Scottish Government funds the national centre for remote and rural health and care, which focuses on recruitment and retention, education, training, research and evaluation, leadership and good practice. We will publish our remote and rural workforce recruitment strategy by the end of 2024.

Staff shortages mean that the public are waiting too long for in-person, face-to-face appointments. The number of GPs has not increased under the Scottish National Party—it has decreased. Practices in Ayrshire are closing due to a lack of GPs, and services at local hospitals are being downgraded due to a lack of consultants. That is unacceptable, and it is leaving patients, particularly in rural areas, without the care that they need. Will the Cabinet secretary tell the people of Ayrshire what he is doing to reverse the decline?

I mentioned a range of measures that we are taking to support recruitment of GPs into rural areas. Alongside that, we are increasing the number of training places in general practice. I am sure that the member will be pleased to hear that, in the general practice specialty training programme this year, not only have we had an increase in places, but from the second quarter of the recruitment programme we are at 100 per cent for those who are looking to go into general practice. The combination of increased training places with the incentives that we have put in place to encourage doctors to work in our rural areas is part of the programme of work that we are undertaking to encourage more doctors to work in our rural communities.

The Cabinet secretary will be aware of the recruitment challenges in the Highlands and Islands. A quarter of the general practices in the north Highlands are run by the national health service. The cost of living, including food prices, on islands is 20 per cent to 30 per cent higher than it is in the rest of Scotland. Therefore, services are being withdrawn then being provided by very expensive locums. The Scottish Government does not allow NHS boards to pay a premium that takes into account those costs, for fear of causing internal competition. What will the Scottish Government do to ensure that there is equal access to healthcare, regardless of where people live?

Of course that is important. If Rhoda Grant wants to write to me about the incentive that she is referring to, I will be more than happy to look at the matter.

I am not entirely clear about the point that Rhoda Grant was making, but I mentioned a range of measures that we are taking to support recruitment into general practice in our island communities, all of which play an important part in helping to address the member’s concerns. The establishment of the national centre for remote and rural health and care has a particular focus, in its early work, on primary care, and is looking particularly at issues and challenges in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.