Supporting Our Remote and Rural GP Workforce

NES have a range of resources and programmes in place to support Remote and Rural GPs across Scotland and more that are underway. We have brought information around some of these programmes of work and resources together in this information article.

NES has been funded by the Scottish Government, Primary Care Directorate to design and deliver Phase 1 of the National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care. Phase 1 of this programme of work is focussed on reducing remote, rural and island health and wellbeing inequalities and improving the sustainability, capacity, and capability of the remote, rural and island primary care and community-based workforce and service delivery.

NES provide a range of support to the GP workforce including a rural specific graduate entry medical degree, ScotGEM, ‘Golden Hellos’ for harder to fill posts and bursaries for GP Speciality Training all aimed at attracting GPs to work in rural Scotland.

In addition to this NES provides two specific initiatives designed to support the needs of newly qualified General Practitioners (GPs) in rural Scotland: the Scottish Rural Fellowship in General Practice and the GMC Credential in Rural and Remote Health (Unscheduled and Urgent Care).

The Scottish Rural Fellowship in General Practice is a collaboration between NES and various Scottish Rural Health Boards. It aims to help new GPs acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for rural practice. Fellows have the opportunity to live and work in a remote or rural area for 12 months, with support from a mentor and a base GP practice. NES provides a generous study leave package, focusing on skills essential for remote healthcare. Up to 10 Rural Fellowships are available annually, in locations across Scotland, and there are two types of Rural Fellowships:

• Standard Fellowship – Designed for those interested in working in rural primary care.
• Acute Fellowship – Geared towards those who want to develop skills as Rural Practitioners in acute care settings, such as small district general or rural hospitals. Fellows in the Acute Rural Fellowship scheme are encouraged to work towards obtaining the GMC credential.

The Rural Fellowship has proven to be a successful entry point for GPs considering rural practice. For more information, please visit the website Scottish Deanery GP Fellowships or contact the Rural Fellowship Coordinator, Debbie Miller, at debbie.miller@nhs.scot.

The purpose of the Rural and Remote Health curriculum is to provide a supportive training framework for doctors on the General Medical Council (GMC) Register practising or wishing to practise in rural and remote contexts to provide unscheduled and urgent care at the interface with the community. 

The Credential in Rural and Remote Health (Unscheduled and Urgent Care) addresses service, patient safety and supports doctors to extend and enhance skills that are not covered in specialty training. In doing so, the credential supports more flexible career development. There are two routes to the award of the credential, a learner route and a recognition route, and doctors are able to seek more information about both here: Rural and Remote Health Credential - Scotland Deanery

The National Centre programmes of work all focus on supporting the remote, rural and island Primary Care workforce and the services they deliver.

Some National Centre programmes of work support the priority needs of the multi professional  Primary Care team and others are profession specific. The National Centre work is structured across four key rural specific workstreams: recruitment and retention, education and training, research and evaluation and leadership and good practice. Some examples of current programmes of work in these  areas are the G.P. Dispensing Practices Education & Training Programme and the Primary Care Community Training Hub Pilot.

The Rural Leadership for Primary Care Services Project is scoping leadership training available within Scotland, nationally, and internationally, in relation to specific content and competencies relevant to remote and rural Primary care leadership.

The National Centre  provide  monthly Remote and Rural Recruitment and Retention Stakeholder Workshops. These monthly workshops include presentations from colleagues with experience or expertise in a particular area related to remote and rural recruitment and retention, followed by focus group discussions or Q&A sessions among the wider stakeholder group to share knowledge and experiences. Following each stakeholder workshop, discussions, key issues, questions and comments are captured and shared so that the findings contribute towards The National Centre strategies, ongoing programmes of work and the Scottish Government Remote and Rural Recruitment and Retention Strategy 2024.

You can find more information on our National Centre Education, Leadership, recruitment and retention programmes via our National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Care: Information Hub | Turas | Learn (nhs.scot)

The National Centre team are also leading a wide range of practical programmes of work aimed at both increasing the evidence base upon which our remote, rural and island Primary Care services are delivered and supporting our rural practitioners to develop their skills in academic clinical research and study. An example of current work that the National Centre are leading on in this area with rural Primary Care partners  is the Supporting our GP Workforce Qualitative Study. This study aims to identify the key priorities of general practitioners in RRI primary care, focusing on improving workload management, reducing the intention to leave, and ensuring protected time for long-term solutions. The core objective of this project is to evaluate the priorities identified by GPs to gain insight into the increasing challenges facing primary care. The National Centre team are also working with Scottish Government colleagues  in carrying out an evaluability assessment of the Rediscover the Joy Remote and Rural GP Cover Programme through structured interviewing and qualitative analysis.

The National Centre are providing Rural Practitioner Development and Publication Awards to fund and support rural primary care practitioners who wish to conduct research or evaluation activities pertinent to remote and rural health and care in Scotland.

You can find out more about our National Centre research and evaluation programmes on our Turas site Research and Evaluation

If you would like to be kept up to date with the news from the National Centre, you can add your name to our stakeholder list here Get involved/Contact us or contact our team by email nes.ruralteam@nhs.scot