LEADERS of the British Medical Association (BMA) have called on the Scottish Government to consider funding a Highlands medical school.
Dr Iain Kennedy, the chair of the British Medical Association in Scotland, told The Guardian that urgent action was needed to tackle the rise in doctors leaving local rural practices.
The lobby stresses the need for a local school due to rural students often being forced to move to study and be financially self-sufficient in Scottish cities compared to their peers.
Data from NHS Scotland shows that GP surgeries in rural areas have a higher-than-average vacancy rate than the rest of Scotland’s which sits at 42%.
The Western Isles currently is the highest at 67%, followed by 64% in Grampian, 56% in Shetland, 57% in Orkney and 54% in Tayside.
Kennedy said he and other BMA leaders were urging ministers to consider funding a new medical school in the Highlands so young local people will be more attracted to train as doctors.
He said: “We need to start recruiting healthcare professionals from our own communities. We need to grow our own.”
Kennedy also added that health inequalities were growing, as well as a divide between rural and urban Scotland: “We have huge vacancies in Orkney, Shetland, Western Isles, Grampian, Highland, Borders – both in hospital consultant vacancies and in GP vacancies. What we can see is that the rural-urban divide is getting greater and that of course is widening health inequalities.
“We haven’t recruited enough doctors in general, across Scotland. When we have a shortage of doctors, rural areas and deprived areas are the first places to be affected.”
The leader also called for rural GPs to get higher pay to cope with the shortfall of staff in Highlands, islands and rural counties.
A Scottish government spokesperson said the National Centre for Remote & Rural Health and Care (the Centre) which opened in October 2023 was being funded to address the crisis with more than £3 million over three years as well as bursaries and a “golden hello” of £10,000 to new rural GPs at practices with recruitment difficulties.
They said: “We are clear that patients who need to see a GP should always be seen, regardless of their location. The centre strives to improve rural workforce and retention and develop new and innovative services to deliver better results for patients.”
