Rural recruitment issues in Scotland have been raised in a parliamentary meeting

Scottish health and care secretary Humza Yousaf said that the Scottish parliament was “straining every sinew” to recruit more rural GPs, amid questions about the effectiveness of recruitment strategies in rural and island areas.

He told MSPs of manifesto commitments to increase medical graduate places by 100 per year, including the GP specialty trainee bursary. However, he blamed Brexit for recruitment woes. He said: “Brexit… is particularly relevant to islands such as Shetland, where a considerable number of doctors and medical staff were from Europe.”