This article in the Social Science & Medicine journal urges, from a rural Scotland perspective, for greater understanding of the roles of health care professionals in remote communities before new models of primary health care provision are introduced which might have unforeseen effects on social and economic structure.

Delivering for Remote and Rural Healthcare was the final report of the Remote and Rural Steering Group. It focussed on improving patient experience of remote primary care and access to secondary care, the remote and rural workforce, including education and rural training pathways, infrastructure and emergency response and transport. The..Read More

The SSPC paper authored by Prof John Gilles et al. gives historical context and comments on the role and challenges faced by a rural General Practitioner in light of the 2018 Scottish GP contract and other factors.

The National Framework Advisory Group, Chaired by Prof David Kerr, published Building a Health Service Fit for the Future in two volumes. The then Scottish Executive commissioned the Group to conduct an in-depth examination of the NHS in Scotland and produce a plan for the future – the first time..Read More

Dr Charlie Siderfin is appointed as SRMC Clinical Lead

The independent National Review of Primary Care Out of Hours Services chaired by Professor Lewis Ritchie publishes its report. It makes many recommendations about the provision of OOH services in rural Scotland.

Dr Catherine Calderwood published her first Annual Report as NHS Scotland’s CMO (Chief Medical Officer) which was titled “Realistic Medicine”.

There are significant intentions and actions relating to primary and community care however there is only a single mention of rural namely “By 2018, we aim to: Have commenced Scotland’s first graduate entry programme for medicine. This will focus on increasing the supply of doctors to rural areas and general..Read More

This comprehensive report from Audit Scotland gives five key messages and makes a number of recommendations to the Scottish Government. It includes a timeline showing policy documents since publication of the 2020 Vision in September 2011. There is extensive use of infographics to convey key information and uses Tableau to..Read More

RCGP Scotland made use of data and information gathered from their annual tracking survey to publish ten recommendations to address GP recruitment and retention issues. No mention of issues specifically related to rural GPs.