A crisis-hit Fife GP practice with four vacant posts has not had a single application in the past three years despite being in desperate need of doctors.
Valleyfield Health Centre, near Dunfermline, has been forced to rely on temporary staff since 2020 as statistics laid bare recruitment woes within the NHS.
Last year just one doctor was working at the health centre, where just 15% of calls were answered over a three-month period.
NHS Fife was previously forced to step in and take over the GP practice as patients warned it would take a death before improvements were made.
Elsewhere in Fife, one medical centre in Methil has been able to fill a full-time post for six years despite the job being advertised annually.
Methilhaven Surgery’s contract was terminated last year by doctors working there as the health board again came in to fill the gap.
In Burntisland, there has not been one single application for a GP post at the Links Practice first advertised to doctors in 2021.
Fife Labour Councillor Graeme Downie, who has pushed for improvements at Valleyfield, told us: “The situation’s been fairly dire for a while now.
“People around the West Fife villages are really worried about the service they’re getting. There’s a lot of local concern.”
Medical practices across Scotland – particularly in more rural areas – have struggled to attract new GPs.
Data published earlier this year showed there were 13 fewer health centres open in Tayside and Fife last year compared to a decade before.
In Angus, the latest figures released revealed there are more than five posts in Brechin Health Centre which have not been filled despite being advertised several times.
NHS Tayside said the GP practice has now had vacancies for a number of years.
The Scottish Lib Dems, who obtained the data, said SNP ministers must tackle the recruitment crisis.
North East Fife MSP Willie Rennie said: “Years of SNP mismanagement and neglect of local health services has left millions unable to see their GP.
“That’s a huge issue, particularly in Fife, the North East and the Highlands where we are seeing so many GP roles unfilled.”
Dr Andrew Buist, Chair of the BMA Scotland trade union’s GP Committee, said more funding is needed to boost GP recruitment.
‘We need urgent investment’
He told us: “It is beyond doubt that we don’t have enough GPs in Scotland to meet demand. That’s true across many areas including Grampian and Highland.
“We need urgent investment to recruit and concerted action to retain GPs if we are to secure the future of general practice in Scotland into the future.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We have already delivered a record number of GPs working in Scotland, with more per head than any other country in the UK.
“A £10,000 bursary is offered as an incentive to GPs to take up rural and other hard to fill vacancies.”
A spokesperson from NHS Fife said they recognise the challenges in recruiting GPs across the UK.
They added: “We are working closely with our board run and independently contracted practices to ensure that we are able to provide a sustainable multi-professional workforce.”
An NHS Tayside spokesperson said: “All boards across Scotland are facing a national shortage of GPs and NHS Tayside is no exception.
“However, we continue to take steps to recruit and retain GPs and look at different ways of delivering care in our communities.”
