The Scottish Conservatives will today hold a vote urging the SNP Government to remove the cap on funded training places for Scots studying for frontline NHS roles at Scottish universities.
The Party’s Shadow Health Secretary Dr Sandesh Gulhane will lead a debate in the Scottish Parliament calling for action to help reduce long-term staffing shortages in our NHS.
The current crisis in the Scottish NHS is due in large part to a lack of GPs, A&E doctors, nurses and paramedics – a problem which stems from Nicola Sturgeon’s decision to cut the number of funded training places at Scottish universities when she was Health Secretary a decade ago.
The Scottish Conservatives believe it’s wrong that any Scottish student who meets the admission criteria and wants to attend a university here should be denied a place. The current cap creates a “brain drain” by forcing many of them to study south of the border, where they will often remain once they graduate.
The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons are among those calling for the Scottish Government to lift the cap for this reason.
Scottish Conservative Shadow Health Secretary Sandesh Gulhane MSP, said: “One of the main factors behind the current crisis in the Scottish NHS is chronic staffing shortages, whether it’s doctors, nurses or paramedics. The problems can’t all be blamed on Covid.
“So it’s ridiculous that we are turning down homegrown Scottish students, who have the grades required to get in to their chosen course, simply because of an arbitrary cap set by the SNP Government.
“Removing the cap would also save the government money in the long term by reducing expenditure on locums. While locums play a vital role in providing flexibility in our NHS, we are currently too dependent on them to fill posts where no permanent appointee can be found.
“The Scottish health service is at breaking point because of a desperate shortage of skilled clinicians. Removing the cap on funded places is not a quick fix to the current crisis but it is essential to ensuring our NHS is better resourced going forward, by preventing a brain drain of talented Scottish students studying and then working elsewhere in the UK or abroad.
“NHS staff that come from Scotland and train in Scotland are more likely to work in Scotland.”
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).