GP Numbers Are In Trouble In Both Scotland And England

7th October 2025

With the evidence available now Audit Scotland's assessment, official workforce data, and ScotGEM's early outputs ScotGEM plus existing measures are not on track to deliver the 800 extra GPs by 2027. GP appointments will remain difficult to get.

Achieving the commitment would require rapid large-scale and sustained additional action that has not yet been delivered by the Scottish Government.

Given the scale of recruitment and training pipeline required versus the actual recent changes in WTE, the probability of reaching +800 GPs by 2027 with the current trajectory of policies and pace of change is low. Audit Scotland's own judgement is that the target is unlikely to be met.

Read the full Audit Scotland report

If the Scottish Government wanted to make hitting 800 realistic within the remaining window, it would need a package like this implemented immediately and at scale.

Rapid expansion of funded substantive GP posts (not just training posts) hundreds more paid and advertised now.

Large immediate retention package meaningful pay/contract changes, workload reduction measures, and funded MDT support to stop leavers and return part-timers to fuller hours.

Fast-track support for newly qualified GPs to take on independent practice in underserved areas (housing, relocation, mentoring, reduced on-call initially).

Scale up ScotGEM & other medical intakes but accept this is medium-term (benefits after several years).

Better data and monthly monitoring so progress is visible and policy can be adjusted rapidly.
Audit Scotland explicitly recommends improved measurement and faster delivery of measures addressing both recruitment and retention.

What is SCOTGEM
ScotGEM, or Scottish Graduate Entry Medicine, is a four-year graduate-entry medical degree program in Scotland, offered through a partnership between the Universities of Dundee and St Andrews, designed to train generalist doctors for NHS Scotland, particularly in rural and remote areas. The program focuses on healthcare improvement and aims to meet the needs of the NHS by encouraging a career as a rural generalist practitioner.

Key aspects of ScotGEM:
Graduate Entry: It is designed for students who already hold a prior degree.
Focus on General Practice: The program emphasizes training doctors who want to work as generalists within communities, rather than specializing in hospitals.

A core aim is to address the recruitment challenges in rural areas by training doctors with an interest in and commitment to rural medicine.

It is a collaborative effort between the universities of Dundee and St Andrews, and various NHS boards and trusts, including NHS Fife, NHS Tayside, NHS Highland, NHS Dumfries and Galloway, and the University of the Highlands and Islands.
Structure: The first two years involve case-based learning, followed by a third year based primarily in a single GP practice and a fourth year with hospital placements.

Students may receive a 'return of service' bursary, which includes a significant sum in exchange for committing to work for a specific period in NHS Scotland after graduation.

England is also struggling with GP numbers
The BMA regularly updates the numbers with the latest update on 25 September 2025.

GP practices across the country are experiencing significant and growing strain with declining GP numbers, rising demand, struggles to recruit and retain staff and knock-on effects for patients.

As of August 2025, there were 39,116 individual (headcount) fully qualified GPs employed in NHS general practices in England. In Full Time Equivalent (FTE) terms of 37.5 hours a week, this equates to 28,408 full-time fully qualified GPs.

The overall number of GPs (including GP trainees) has seen little growth since 2015, while the number of GP partners has declined significantly during this time.

Successive Governments have failed to deliver on promised recruitment.

In August 2025 there were the equivalent of 957 fewer fully qualified full-time GPs than there were in September 2015 (when the current data collection method began). Numbers of fully qualified GPs have recently started to increase though - there has been an increase of 601 fully qualified FTE GPs in the last 12 months.

The GP partner workforce has been shrinking since 2015 when this dataset began, with the loss of 6,262 FTE GP partners during this time. In August 2025 there were 15,393 FTE GP partners compared to 15,925 in August 2024: a total loss of 533 FTE GP partners in the last year alone. On a headcount basis, there was a loss of 574 GP partners in the last year.

Read the full BMA report