GP Workforce Recruitment and Retention Guide
Welcome to the GP Workforce Recruitment and Retention Guide
The purpose of this guide is to assist Health Boards and GP Practices considering different initiatives to improve the recruitment and retention of General Practitioners within all settings across Scotland.
The aim of this guide is to help identify opportunities to develop a cohesive approach to recruitment and retention of GPs, to ensure there is a sustainable workforce for current and future needs of the population of Scotland.
The status of this document is advisory and can be used as a tool by Health Boards and GP Practices to inform decision making surrounding the recruitment and retention of GP roles.
Explore:
- The Five Pillars of the Workforce Strategy
- Plan Recommendations
- Attract Recommendations
- Employ, Retain and Nurture Recommendations
- Support and Resources
- GP Workforce Recruitment and Retention Guide
We want to hear from you
If you have any questions about the information in this resource, or you feel there is information which would be useful to add, please get in touch with the Centre for Workforce Supply at nes.cws@nhs.scot.
Recruitment and Retention Guidance
The Five Pillars of the Workforce Strategy
The National Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care in Scotland (2022) identifies five interconnected pillars that support the workforce journey: Plan, Attract, Train, Employ and Nurture. Together, these pillars provide a framework for reviewing and strengthening approaches to workforce planning, attraction, recruitment and retention. Use the links below to explore each pillar and reflect on how your organisation can support a sustainable, skilled and valued workforce.
Using the five pillars of the Health and Social Care Workforce Strategy 2022 as a starting point, this table is designed to support local reflection on recruitment and retention practice. The prompts can be used to identify strengths, highlight gaps and consider opportunities to further develop approaches to workforce planning, attraction, recruitment and retention.
| Workforce Pillar | Purpose | Workforce Strategy Section |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | Understanding workforce requirements, population needs, service demand and future workforce capacity to support sustainable workforce planning. | Plan (Page 28) |
| Attract | Promoting careers, widening participation and attracting people into health and social care roles across Scotland. | Attract (Page 30) |
| Train | Supporting education, learning, skills development and career pathways to ensure staff are equipped for current and future service needs. | Train (Page 33) |
| Employ | Creating effective recruitment, onboarding and employment practices that support people to join and remain within the workforce. | Employ (Page 36) |
| Nurture | Fostering a positive workplace culture through wellbeing, leadership, inclusion, development and retention initiatives. | Nurture (Page 38) |
Plan Recommendations
| Area | Checklist Item | Complete |
|---|---|---|
| Workforce Planning | Before engaging in new recruitment activity, does the Health Board/GP Practice have all the workforce data needed to inform the recruitment approach? Is there any additional data which NHS Education for Scotland, other Health Boards, or Scottish Government might be able to provide to better inform planning? NES Data Group and Centre for Workforce Supply can help Health Boards to access additional data if required. | ☐ |
| Does the Health Board/GP Practice have a clear understanding of the pipeline of GP Specialty trainees within the region? The NES Workforce Planning Tool can be used to help with understanding historic trends and to model anticipated vacancies over the next five years. NES Data Group and Centre for Workforce Supply can help accessing this data and other GP specific information which can assist workforce planning at local, regional, and national levels. | ☐ | |
| Has there been a review of the skill mix and current size of GP workforce in the Health Board/GP Practice? Are there opportunities for diversification or use of different roles for example? Advanced Nurses, Pharmacists/Pharmacy Technicians, Physiotherapists, Mental Health role etc. to complement the GP workforce? | ☐ | |
| Consider Flexibility in Roles | Could job plans/sessions be advertised as flexible to encourage applications from doctors looking for less than full time working? | ☐ |
| Has the Health Board/GP Practice proactively advertised to those looking to return to practice after career breaks? What flexible working arrangements could be advertised to encourage applications? | ☐ | |
| Has the GP Practice looked at becoming a ScotGP Retain and Sustain practice, or GP Returner accredited practice to access another pool of skilled GPs? | ☐ | |
| Has the Health Board/GP Practice conducted proactive pre-retirement career planning to retain experienced staff with perhaps less clinical commitments? Could ‘Retire and Return’ roles be developed which focus more on supervision, education and training? Are Health Boards promoting the 'Retire and Return' and 'Phased Retirement' NHS Scotland Workforce policies for GPs employed within Health Boards, as flexible ways to continue working? | ☐ | |
| Has the Health Board/GP Practice considered local or regional partnerships for split posts, perhaps with one post being more generalist, and the other being focused on an area of specialist interested, perhaps with a mix of primary and secondary care work, to encourage a wider range of applicants? | ☐ | |
| Proactive Recruitment | Does the Health Board/GP Practice use agencies for sourcing doctors for hard to fill roles? Do they look domestically or internationally? Centre for Workforce Supply can support with identifying and connect Health Boards/GP Practices with appropriate recruitment agencies for their needs. | ☐ |
| Has the Health Board/GP Practice considered local or regional partnership for recruitment with agencies to make it as cost effective as possible? | ☐ | |
| Has the GP Practice considered applying for a UKVI Visa Sponsor license to be able to sponsor newly qualified IMG GPs who have training in Scotland? | ☐ |
Attract Recommendations
Use this checklist to review how your organisation attracts and promotes opportunities to potential applicants. The questions are designed to support discussion around career development, branding, marketing, advertising and candidate engagement, helping Health Boards and GP Practices identify opportunities to strengthen attraction and recruitment activity. Record progress against each item using the completion column and revisit regularly as part of your workforce planning and recruitment processes.
| Area | Checklist Item | Complete |
|---|---|---|
| Job Plans and Career Development | Is the GP Practice an accredited Training Practice for GP Specialty Training? (Accreditation is via NES). Supporting GPs during their training makes the Practice much more visible to the pipeline of doctors, and can help attract the future workforce to that Practice/Health Board area. To find out more about how to become a Training Practice, contact the local GP Training Programme Director. Information on the process of becoming a GP Educational Supervisor (Trainer) is available on the Scotland Deanery website. | ☐ |
| Does the Health Board/GP Practice offer any employee referral schemes to attract family and friends of current staff into the workforce? | ☐ | |
| How does the Health Board/GP Practice support employees to have a good balance between their commitments at work and outside of work? How is this communicated to potential applicants in job packs and adverts? | ☐ | |
| Does the Health Board/GP Practice have areas of expertise which might be appealing to candidates such as facilitating specialist interests, enabling staff to undertake teaching or research? Are these highlighted in adverts? | ☐ | |
| Are there incentives which would make the advertised posts more attractive such as flexible/hybrid working? | ☐ | |
| Does the Health Board/GP Practice support doctors to access NES Fellowships or gain credentials such as the Remote and Rural credential? Is this mentioned in job adverts? More information on these Fellowships can be found on Scotland’s GP Workforce Centre - Fellowships. | ☐ | |
| Brand and Marketing of the Health Board/GP Practice | Have the Health Board/GP Practice identified some of the unique values they can offer, and included this in advertising and job packs? How would staff describe the workplace culture? | ☐ |
| What is unique/interesting about the location? Are there any specific benefits or incentives to joining the Health Board/GP Practice which could appeal to potential staff? | ☐ | |
| Does the Health Board/GP Practice use consistent messaging and branded assets to promote itself? There is an Attraction and Recruitment Toolkit available within Scotland’s GP Workforce Centre to help with making a consistent look and feel to adverts. | ☐ | |
| Are job packs and adverts on Jobtrain or the GP Jobs website engaging and interactive? There is an Attraction and Recruitment Toolkit available on Scotland’s GP Workforce Centre to assist with making adverts more engaging. | ☐ | |
| Does the Health Board/GP Practice have photography to help convey the appropriate messaging about the role being advertised, and the local area? The Attraction and Recruitment Toolkit on Scotland’s GP Workforce Centre has an image library which can be used to improve adverts. | ☐ | |
| Does the Health Board/GP Practice have video content or website links included in job packs to take potential candidates to wider sources of information? | ☐ | |
| Does the Health Board/GP Practice use rolling adverts until there are suitable candidates to shortlist instead of having a fixed closing date? | ☐ | |
| Advertising and Promotion | Does the Health Board/GP Practice have a dedicated attraction section on their website, highlighting jobs and the benefits of the local area, encouraging people to ‘move and stay’ in the area. Examples of this include the NHS Scotland Careers website, Work on Skye, or Wish you Worked Here. | ☐ |
| Are vacancies being advertised through journals like the BMJ or Royal College job Boards? | ☐ | |
| Are vacancies being promoted informally through professional networks of clinical teams, for example through LinkedIn or at conferences/network events? Are there other places the roles could be advertised? | ☐ | |
| Is the Health Board/GP Practice Manager or Partners attending conferences and events to advertise vacant posts and promote the benefits of working in their Practice/or Board area? | ☐ | |
| Does the Health Board/GP Practice have mechanisms to nurture potential applicants looking to join their teams, before there is a specific vacancy for them to apply for? | ☐ | |
| Does the Health Board/GP Practice always list a single point of contact on job packs so that potential applicants can have an informal conversation and get more information about the role/Practice? | ☐ | |
| Could the Royal College(s) support in recruitment efforts through guidance or local/national campaigns? | ☐ | |
| Does the Health Board/GP Practice use digital channels to share job adverts? E.g. utilising platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook etc. at a local level, or tagging NHS Scotland Careers accounts so any posts can be amplified to increase the reach. The Attraction and Recruitment Toolkit on Scotland’s GP Workforce Centre has a range of imagery designed for Health Boards/GP Practices to use on digital social media channels. | ☐ |
Employ, Retain and Nurture Recommendations
Use this checklist to review how your organisation supports doctors throughout their employment journey, from induction and pastoral support through to career development and long-term retention. The questions are designed to encourage reflection on the support, development opportunities and retention initiatives available within your organisation, helping to create an environment where staff feel valued, supported and able to thrive. Record progress against each item using the completion column and revisit regularly as part of your workforce planning and retention activities.
| Area | Checklist Item | Complete |
|---|---|---|
| Induction and Support | Does the Health Board/GP Practice have robust enhanced induction and pastoral support for new doctors joining from other parts of the UK or from overseas? Have IMG doctors, and managers/supervisors been signposted to the guidance and support available on Scotland’s GP Workforce Centre - Thriving Together - Valuing and Supporting IMG GPs? | ☐ |
| Does the Health Board/GP Practice support doctors new to the area with accommodation, either through direct support, or signposting to letting agents, resources on tenancy agreements? There is a Step-by-Step Rental Guide available to support staff who are new to Scotland. | ☐ | |
| Does the Health Board/GP Practice provide a pastoral buddy for personal support in settling into their new role and area? | ☐ | |
| Career Development and Progression | Does the Health Board/GP Practice provide career development conversations and information within the first 3-6 months of new doctors taking up post to support retention? | ☐ |
| Do GPs have access to educational supervision, mentoring, or support to ensure career development and progression opportunities are made available? There is information on Scotland’s GP Workforce Centre – Early Career and Ongoing Support which can help direct staff to the available support. | ☐ | |
| Does the Health Board have any Career Start or IMG Fellowships for GPs and are these opportunities being promoted widely? | ☐ | |
| Retention | Does the Health Board/GP Practice have a robust retention plan and are any of the retention initiatives/benefits included in job packs and adverts? | ☐ |
| Has the Health Board/GP Practice promoted the ScotGP Retain and Sustain programme to any doctors who require more support, and at risk of leaving clinical practice? Details of eligibility criteria and application process for GPs and GP Practices can be found on Scotland’s GP Workforce Centre – ScotGP Retain and Sustain. | ☐ | |
| Does the Health Board/GP Practice routinely conduct exit interviews to understand the reasons for GPs leaving their role? Are there any themes in the reasons for people leaving and what actions are being taken to learn from these? | ☐ |
Support and Resources
Use the resources below to access further information, practical tools and examples that can support attraction, recruitment and retention across your organisation.
GP Workforce Recruitment and Retention Guide
You can download the GP Workforce Recruitment and Retention Guide as an interactive PDF, providing a practical resource to support the attraction, recruitment and retention of General Practitioners across Scotland.
Select the guide below or use the download link to access your copy.
Explore NHS Scotland Medical Workforce Centre
