WEST FIFE’S GP shortage may ease with a new Scottish Government recruitment drive for junior doctors but there are doubts as to whether it will solve the problem.

It has launched the drive for 100 new GP trainees, with 37 posts carrying a £20,000 incentive to take up posts in hard-to-fill locations, such as remote and rural areas.

The 100 new places bring the total number of GP specialist training posts advertised this year to 439, after a recruitment round earlier in the year.

The Press has previously reported how West Fife surgeries are struggling with a GP shortage as part of Scotland’s primary healthcare “crisis”.

In June, the NHS Scotland Health and Care Experience Survey revealed that West Fifers faced a healthcare postcode lottery when it came to contacting surgeries or booking an appointment, with up to two-thirds of patients in key communities having difficulty getting through on the phone.

Last year, we told you how surgeries in Dunfermline and Kelty were among 13 across the Kingdom finding it difficult to recruit and fill the gaps in their clinical teams.

Six fully-trained GPs also started a year of extra training in Dunfermline last November under an NHS Fife pilot scheme to equip them with skills to work across community and hospital settings.

However, Mid-Scotland and Fife MSP Alex Rowley, who has repeatedly railed about Fife’s GP shortage, expressed doubts over the latest recruitment drive.

He told the Press: “In Fife, like so many areas of Scotland, we have a GP shortage, and any initiative to address this is welcome, as is the fact that at last the Scottish Government is recognising its responsibility and the need to intervene with positive actions to tackle the shortage of GPs. 

“I doubt this initiative will on its own solve the problem which is set to grow over the coming years with the number of GPs due to retire and the complete failure to plan for this, but it is a start and a welcome step in the right direction.”

Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “General practice is the heart of our NHS, becoming ever more important as we build the community health service of the future.

“That is why we are investing to recruit more junior doctors into GP training posts with 100 extra places advertised to build the primary care workforce of the future.”

And she continued: “However, we know there are some parts of the country that have challenges recruiting – mainly because of their geographical location.

"So we’re offering a financial incentive with certain posts to fill these vital training places.

“We are also investing in the future of the profession by developing new ways of working with multi-disciplinary teams and also re-focusing the role of the GP as the expert medical generalist within our community health service.”