28th January 2015
The Scottish Government has launched a review of the NHS workforce to better decide where capacity was required to staff the future NHS. Scottish health secretary Shona Robison said the review would conclude this coming autumn, acting as part of an umbrella consultation with staff and the public on the future of health and social care over the next decade.
Ms Robison said she wants to ‘reach consensus’ over reforms, including working alongside the BMA and RCGP in Scotland. “I want to try and reach as much consensus around what we want our health and social care systems to look like over those longer time frames and the steps we need to take to get there.
“This will include planning what capacity is required where and what the workforce will need to look like to deliver these new services in a different way, so the role of the professional bodies and the royal colleges will be key to informing that work. That engagement will be ongoing but I would like to have reached broad agreement on this plan by the autumn of this year.”
Scottish secretary of the BMA Jill Vickerman has pledged support for the review, recognising the ‘extreme pressure’ the NHS is under, and that it “cannot survive indefinitely based on the goodwill and self-sacrifice of health professionals...the BMA is ready to play a full part, alongside other professional organisations, colleges and the public, in providing input from doctors across Scotland, and that it genuinely ensures safe, person-centred and effective health and care for people in Scotland into the future.”
It comes after an agreed three-year deal while negotiating a new GMS contract better-suited to Scotland’s vision for the future of health care, looking to come to fruition by April 2017. The review of the GMS contract will focus on caring for the elderly population, sourcing solutions to GP recruitment and retention, meeting the needs of patients in rural areas, and to enable the planned integration of health and social care services.