General Practitioner recruitment and retention action plan 2024 - 2026: update March 2026

Introduction

This update sets out progress and next steps in the delivery of the 20 measures to improve GP recruitment and retention in Scotland. Increasing the GP workforce capacity is central to delivery of the Health and Social Care Service Renewal Framework and Population Health Framework which set out Scotland's ambitions to deliver more care closer to home in the community, as well as to tackle the root causes of ill health and to prevent poor health.

In 2025/26, we provided an additional £15m to General Practice for workforce recruitment and retention to boost capacity within General Practice. Following a landmark deal with the Scottish General Practice Committee of the British Medical Association, we will be investing a further £310m over the next three years from 2026/27 to further expand the General Practice workforce with a clear focus on increasing GP capacity. Progress will be measured through returns against the General Practice Workforce Survey.

This update is set in the wider context of a number of developments in the workforce planning landscape. The Scottish Government’s Future Medical Workforce project is an exploratory initiative designed to consider what Scotland’s medical workforce will need to look like in the next 15–20 years. The Future Medical Workforce Project: phase 1 report , published in December 2025, sets out the key insights and views of doctors. Phase two, which began in January 2026, focuses on co-designing solutions with the profession, and early thinking envisages work on medical education and training reform, the future role of doctors to support NHS renewal, improving workplace culture and experiences for doctors and workforce planning.