The scale of the drift to privatisation – Nearly 100% of GPs in Scotland work in the NHS but only 66% do so in England

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Professor John Robertson OBA

In the Guardian last week, the above and:

One in three GPs in England do not work in the NHS, with increasing numbers seeking to move abroad or becoming a private contractor, deepening patients’ difficulties in getting appointments.

The proportion of family doctors who, although qualified, do not provide care through the NHS has risen from 27% in 2015 to 34% last year, according to a study published in the BMJ.

That means almost 20,000 GPs who could be working in the health service are “lost” to it and are not doing so, despite unprecedented demand for care and many government initiatives to try to increase GP numbers.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/sep/17/one-in-three-gps-in-england-do-not-work-in-nhs-says-bmj-study

How does Scotland compare? From Grok AI with sources checked:

The total number of GPs qualified and eligible to work as such (those on the General Medical Council GP specialist register and based in Scotland) is not explicitly broken out in recent official reports, but workforce surveys and analyses indicate that the vast majority of qualified GPs in Scotland are engaged in NHS general practice. Unlike in England, where a BMJ study found 34% of licensed GPs were not working in NHS general practice in 2024, no equivalent “lost” proportion is reported for Scotland. Trends show a static or slightly increasing headcount in NHS practices, with challenges more related to retention and workload than widespread non-participation.Thus, the percentage of qualified Scottish GPs working in the NHS (via general practice contracts) is approximately 100%, with minor exceptions for those in non-clinical roles (e.g., academia or administration) or temporarily out of practice.

https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/nhs-delivery-and-workforce/pressures/nhs-under-pressure-scotland and https://www.thenational.scot/news/25417923.number-gps-scotland-increases-first-time-since-2019/

So, 34% and 100% – three times as many?

One thought on “The scale of the drift to privatisation – Nearly 100% of GPs in Scotland work in the NHS but only 66% do so in England”

  1. Pingback: One 8 year NHS Scotland wait for plastic surgery does not erase Labour’s longer waits for hundreds of thousands, overall, in A&E, for urgent 18 week treatment and for heart operations as they, not the SNP seek to destroy the NHS and privatise it

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