The Scottish Government has been accused of “mismanagement” after it emerged a quarter of GP training places at surgeries have been left unfilled.
Despite a major national recruitment drive, more than 200 jobs for young medics were left empty this year – fuelling concern there is a “GP recruitment crisis” in Scotland.
The north-east has experienced well-documented difficulties in recruiting family doctors, with patients struggling to get appointments.
The Press and Journal recently reported that Aberdeen University was being forced to turn-down would-be medical students because of the cap on places in order to maintain free tuition.
New figures emerged yesterday suggesting more than a quarter of training places in GP surgeries were unfilled – up from a fifth in 2015.
Hospitals also experienced recruitment difficulties, with just five of 16 vacancies in emergency medicine being taken up, for example.
The Scottish Government insisted it is doing everything it can to encourage more medical students to become family doctors.
But the Scottish Conservative’s shadow health secretary and Highlands and Islands MSP Donald Cameron said: “This is the latest in a long line of worrying findings in relation to GP numbers.
“We know the workforce is ageing, and we know the workload for many is increasing.
“It now seems there are problems at the other end of the spectrum too, with not enough doctors coming through for training.
“If the Scottish Government doesn’t get on top of this, the issue risks getting out of hand altogether.”
Scottish Labour’s health spokesman, Anas Sarwar, added: “For decades the family doctor has been at the heart of our communities, but we are facing a GP recruitment crisis under the SNP.
“After a decade of mismanagement we now need to see real progress in primary care.”
While more junior doctors had accepted jobs with NHS Scotland by the end of the 2016 recruitment cycle, there were a total of 210 vacant posts, compared to 190 in 2015.
More training places were advertised for 2016 than 2015, with 34 extra GP places and 39 more advanced hospital positions offered.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We are committed to making sure our NHS is equipped for the future and that is why we are increasing the NHS revenue budget by £500million more than inflation by the end of this parliament.
“While Scotland continues to have the highest number of GPs per patient in the UK, we have confirmed an extra 100 GP training places to encourage more medical students into the profession, and an increase in support for schemes that bring experienced GPs in to the health service.”