Primary care workforce survey
2022

About this release

This report by Public Health Scotland (PHS) presents results from the 2022 Primary Care Out of Hours Workforce Survey. The survey is an important source of information to support workforce planning for Out of Hours services.

Main points

• The majority of NHS Boards reported decreases in the number (headcount) of General Practitioners (GPs) working for Primary Care Out of Hours (OoH) services in the year ending 31 March 2022 compared to the last survey in 2019.

Note: NHS Borders, NHS Highland and NHS Orkney are not included in this table as the 2022 data for these boards is not comparable to 2019.

• Within Primary Care OoH services, 9% of the GPs worked 1,000 hours or more over the year and their total annual hours accounted for nearly half (44%) of the total GP hours worked.
• Eight NHS boards had to take additional action at least weekly to ensure shifts are filled, either by extending shifts, having nurses cover GP shifts, reducing triage cover or use of standby/on-call/backup shifts.
• GPs aged over 45 years worked a higher average number of hours per week in Primary Care OoH services than younger GPs, with the highest average hours worked by GPs aged 60-64 years old.
• In recent years, the proportion of female GPs in the OoH workforce has increased, however the average hours worked for female GPs are lower than males across all age groups.
• There has been an increase in the number of Band 7 nurses since 2015 where Band 7 nurses now make up nearly two-thirds of OoH nursing staff (63%).

Background

The Primary Care Out of Hours Workforce Survey was developed to meet a need for centrally collated information on the workforce involved in the provision of Primary Care Out of Hours (OoH) services. The census date for the survey was 31 March 2022. All 14 NHS Boards responded to the survey of Primary Out of Hours (OoH) services. However, some boards were unable to fully complete the required information. NHS Highland were only able to submit a partial response covering the Highland council area. NHS Borders were unable to supply details of individual GPs and nurses age, gender or hours worked. NHS Ayrshire and Arran and NHS Forth Valley were unable to supply details of nurse age groups. Data on working hours for some sessional GPs is also thought to be incomplete for NHS Tayside. Further information on the response rates and coverage of the survey over time can be found in the publication