MSPs urged to stop "haemorrhaging" GPs

A leading doctor has urged MSPs to work to retain family doctors before thinking of ways to boost numbers.

Giving evidence at the Health and Sport Committee on Tuesday, Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Scotland chairwoman Dr Carey Lunan called for the Scottish Government to understand why so many GPs are leaving the profession before recruiting more.

The committee is currently in the second phase of its inquiry into the future of primary care in Scotland, and is meeting with a number of GPs on Wednesday.

Dr Lunan said: "Retention is actually the biggest part of recruitment.

"It's like transfusing someone while they continue to haemorrhage. Unless you stop the bleeding, it's not going to get better.

"We need to think about why it is that people leave, and I don't think we have an idea of why people leave General Practice, because it's different at different points in their career.

"In the first part of your career, the issues and doubts are different than they are at the end.

"Without knowing in more detail what they are, we can't present solutions.''

Dr Lunan was responding to a question from Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton, who wondered if the Scottish Government promise of increasing GP numbers by 800 by 2027 was likely to be met on time.

The RCGP Scotland chairwoman said it was "difficult to know'' if the target would be met on time, due to the number of factors effecting the number of GPs in Scotland.

Dr Lunan also said the way in which the promise was made may not be representative of the workforce as a whole and would be the equivalent of a little more than half the number in terms of working time.

She said: "Our concern is that, although it's very welcome to see a commitment to 800 extra GPs, this is a headcount figure.

"We need to understand that a headcount figure creates massive variation, and what that can actually look like.

"An 800 headcount figure could be, as a worst case scenario, 800 people doing half a day a week, or 800 GPs doing five days a week.

"To help with workforce planning, we really need to be thinking about it in terms of whole-time equivalent planning, which is how it's done throughout the rest of the UK.

"It's really important to general practice that we understand what that means.

"Under current workforce patterns that's likely to be around 460 whole-time GPs, which creates a different picture.''

Calculating the whole-time equivalent for GPs would mean compiling the number of hours worked in practices, as opposed to the number of people currently working.

Dr Lunan denied the promise was a "cynical'' move by the Scottish Government, when asked by Mr Cole-Hamilton in a follow-up question.

She said: "We just feel that whole-time equivalent planning is more reliable, and allows us to know what the future workforce is going to look like."