Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP will this afternoon tell the SNP Government they must remove the cap on funded training places for Scots studying for frontline health jobs at Scottish universities to address the staffing crisis in Scotland’s NHS.
The Shadow Health Secretary will lead a debate on a Scottish Conservative motion in the Scottish Parliament. It is expected the SNP will vote down the motion.
As a working GP himself, Dr Gulhane is aware that the current intolerable strain on Scotland’s NHS is due in large part to a lack of GPs, A&E doctors, nurses and paramedics. Nicola Sturgeon’s decision to cut the number of funded training places for medical students at Scottish universities, when she was Health Secretary a decade ago, is a major factor in the shortage.
The Scottish Conservatives believe the current cap on funded places creates a “brain drain” by forcing many Scots students south of the border, where they will often remain after graduating.
Removing it would ensure that any Scottish student who meets the admission criteria and wants to attend a university here would be offered a place – guarding against a shortage of NHS staff in future years.
The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons have also called on the Scottish Government to lift the cap for this reason.
Scottish Conservative Shadow Health Secretary Sandesh Gulhane MSP, said: “Lifting the cap on funded places for Scots students would go a long way to ensuring that Scotland’s NHS doesn’t face its current staffing crisis again in years to come.
“I’m disappointed that the SNP won’t get behind this plan because it is a practical solution to a huge structural problem. It is also affordable, because in the long term it will reduce the NHS’s reliance on employing locum staff.
“Just this week, we learned that an astonishing 80% of doctor vacancies in Scotland were left unfilled because no one applied for them. That situation is unacceptable and must be addressed.
“The current staffing crisis in the health service can be traced back in large part to Nicola Sturgeon’s decision to cut the number of university places for medical students a decade ago when she was Health Secretary.
“I would have hoped they SNP would recognise the error of their ways and back this sensible and much-needed proposal.”
Notes
Dr Gulhane’s motion, to be debated Wednesday November 17, states: “That the Parliament calls on the Scottish Government to remove the cap on funded training places for Scottish students studying for front line NHS roles.”
The upgrading of thousands of exam results across the country has led to calls to increase places at Scottish medical schools as more applicants meet entry requirements. (Health and Care, 22 August 2020, link).
The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow has called on the Scottish Government to remove the current cap on medical school places in Scotland. College President Professor Jackie Taylor said: ‘Last week the Department for Education lifted the cap on medical school places in England to accommodate the growing demand for places following this year’s exam results. Today we’re calling on the Scottish Government to follow suit… Removing the cap on places for Scottish-domiciled students in our in medical schools would be the right thing to do.’ (Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, 26 August 2020, link).
Most job vacancies for doctors in Scotland were not filled because there were no applicants, with the number of unfilled posts reaching a decade-high across the UK. Nobody applied for more than 80% of all the medical consultant job adverts issued in Scotland that closed without finding a suitable candidate in the last year. STV News Online 16 November 2021 (link)