Seòmar agus comataidhean

What can we do to stop other areas falling behind?

I ask these questions on behalf of Sue Webber. I will direct the first one to Dr Marshall, and then I will ask a wider question.

In December, the BMA was not happy about the shortage of doctors in Scotland. The new workforce strategy talks about having 800 new GPs by 2027. In 2019, Audit Scotland was not very happy with that and threw that claim into doubt. Dr Marshall, what is your assessment of the workforce strategy?

As far as the roles of AHPs are concerned, how can we do better workforce planning to ensure that we get what we need?

I want to touch on inequalities. The issue is very pertinent to Dr Marshall, as someone who works in Govan. I will ask a question that I also put to the first panel. What worries do you have about the link between alternative pathways and digital exclusion?

I am.

Given that the workforce plan is rather GP and NHS-centric, we are concerned about how you can feed into it. Can you tell us about the feedback that you gave? What needs to happen for you to be included? What do you feel that you need?

On your point about mental health systems, in Glasgow, CAMHS and the general psychiatric service have different systems. Therefore, when I was covering CAMHS, I could not see patients’ records. I needed my nurses to open the records so that I could read them, and I needed my nurses to type my notes into the system because I did not have the ability to do that. Worse still, GPs cannot read what the psychiatric service has written. You will appreciate the importance of GPs and psychiatrists being able to read each other’s notes. I feel that that is a dangerous situation. What can we do quickly to overcome that?

What assessment has been made of the link between access to alternative pathways and digital exclusion?

I will talk a bit about innovative practice, which we have heard a bit about, especially in rural areas. I know of amazing work that is being done in NHS Grampian, and I would like Julie Mosgrove to tell us a little more about that and about barriers to rolling that out across Scotland. Does anyone else have examples of innovative work in rural areas that makes life better for our patients?

Always, convener.

This question, which is for Clare Morrison to start with, is about MDTs and the data that drives decisions. Now that all members of allied healthcare professions are to be fully included in the workforce plan, what would need to happen for you to get the appropriate data that you need? Obviously, as far as training and financial support are concerned, a lot of these groups are businesses, but you will need access to patient data to be able to perform those functions.

It is important to hear from everyone, but I will start with Jess Sussmann.

Dr Marshall, I want to pick up on David Torrance’s question about the abuse that reception staff take. I, too, am a jobbing GP; receptionists allow us to do our job, and without them we simply could not function. I remember coming through to reception and seeing one of my receptionists in floods of tears over something that had been said to her. Every time I am at work, I hear about things that have been said that have made our reception staff feel hurt and upset. Demand and frustration are leading to that. Abuse is completely unacceptable, as you rightly said. What more can be done to make that clear and protect our reception staff?