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Wednesday, 28 June 2006 10:19

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Scots doctors prescribe solutions to medical workforce challenges

Doctors attending the British Medical Association’s annual conference in Belfast have today agreed on solutions to the challenges of workforce planning in Scotland.

Speaking of Scottish Executive plans to increase the number of medical school graduates at St Andrews Medical School, Sabrina Talukdar, chair of the BMA's Scottish Medical Students Committee, and St Andrews graduate, said:

"One year ago, the Scottish Executive accepted recommendations to create 100 extra medical school places in Scotland which would allow St Andrews graduates to complete their clinical medical training in Scotland rather than Manchester. It was felt that this would increase the chances of the students staying in Scotland and giving service to NHS Scotland in the future."

But, she warned that greater planning was required in order for this approach to be successful:

"This increase in numbers to be planned carefully so that it does not compromise the high quality of training that students receive in Scotland. Many medical schools are working to capacity already and may well struggle to cope with yet more medical students.

"The number of academics must also increase in line with the numbers of students they will have to teach. Scotland already leads the way in terms of recruiting and retaining Medical Academics, and we would hope that this continues."

Conference also debated measures to increase the number of senior doctors in Scotland in the shorter term. Dr Lewis Morrison, a consultant geriatrician from Lothian, and member of the BMA’s Scottish Consultants Committee, said:

"Scotland needs more senior doctors but a significant number of consultants are expected to retire next year and there are currently few if any incentives to stay on.

"MMC goes live next august in Scotland. If we get that wrong trainees will leave Scotland.

"It is simple arithmetic and I hope that this gives a simple message to the Scottish Executive.

· Create sufficient MMC training posts to accommodate all current trainees and you will keep the majority in Scotland. If you keep them in Scotland as trainees more will stay as seniors.

· Make it practical to reduce workload at the end of a career and you will keep your senior doctors working for longer.

· Ensure that senior posts are just that i.e. GPs and Consultants.

"If you build it they will come. If you build it, but you don’t fund it they won't. These measures require adequate ring fenced monies.

"Scotland has an opportunity to largely solve its senior doctor recruitment problems. I urge the Executive to take that opportunity."

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