Question reference: S5W-34271
- Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 23 December 2020
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 January 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will adjust training allocations in (a) geriatrics, (b) neurology, (c) renal, (d) respiratory and (e) rheumatology medicine in the North of Scotland NHS region to ensure that these programmes meet the region’s 15% allocation of higher specialty training places.
Answer
While the allocation of trainees in these medical specialties in the North of Scotland is below the 15% allocation, there are a number of other training programmes in this region with an allocation above the agreed 15% of training posts, for example Acute Medicine (16.8%), Cardiology (15.4%), Gastroenterology (18.6%). Should they wish, Boards in the North region may submit proposals to redistribute posts more evenly across the medical specialties, or for adjustments to be made across all regions for different training levels. Any such adjustments would need to be agreed with other Scottish Boards, carefully planned to ensure continuity of service and care for patients and also attractive to trainees to maximise the chances of successful recruitment.