Gabrielle Stewart from the Allied Health Professions Federation says AHPs often are not represented at the top table.

SNP MSP Maree Todd pharmacist worked for twenty years as a clinical pharmacist working in a psychiatric hospital.

Ms Todd says pharmacists can be "hidden in full view" and are an under utilised force.

Aileen Bryson from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society says the driver at the moment is the shortage of GPs.

She says pharmacists have not been good at shining a light on the profession.

Aileen Bryson from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society says it can work well with the pharmacist within a GP practice, there are models where a pharmacist works part-time in a practice and sometimes a pharmacy is the only point of contact.

"It really is about what will work best in a geographical locality."

She says: "There is no one ideal model."

Ms Bryson says there needs to be transformational change.

Dr Sian Tucker says GPs are doing things that could be done by other people.

Aileen Bryson from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society says the public need to be educated about going to the right person at the right time.

Theresa Fyffe from the Royal College of Nursing says the skills of the multidisciplinary team must be valued.

Ms Fyffe says: "There is a shortage of GPs but there is a shortage of other health professionals."

Dr Tucker says none of the community hubs that she is aware of would be for patients to travel to.

She says the hub would take calls from NHS 24 and try to deal with it over the phone or outsource the work to local GPs.

Dr Tucker says it is not to replace GPs although it has come to light because of the crisis in GP recruitment.

She says this new programme should work with local GPs to improve the service and create a multi-disciplinary team. 

In August the the health secretary launched the Report of the National Review of Primary Care Out of Hours Services on November 30, 2015, following its commission on January 30, 2015:

• Blueprint for out-of-hours care - Independent Review publishes, external
• Review of out-of-hours primary care launch, external

Image source, KTSDESIGN/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie OBE (the Review Chair) led this work with the following aims to review the current delivery landscape and recommend action to ensure primary care out of hours services:

• Are person-centred, sustainable, high quality, safe and effective
• Provide access to relevant urgent care when needed
• Deliver the right skill mix of professional support for patients during the out-of-hours period

Membership of the Review included a diverse range of public, professional and other stakeholders. The main Review Group, which provided the overall decision making and governance function, had a wide range of members from health, social care, voluntary and third sectors.

The number of GPs working in Scotland has fallen and one in five practices has a vacancy, according to official statistics released in June.

The survey found that 90 fewer full-time family doctors were working in Scotland in 2015, compared to 2013.

Image source, Thinkstock

Labour accused the Scottish government of creating the "biggest crisis in family doctors for a generation".

Health Minister Shona Robison announced £2m worth of funding to improve GP recruitment and retention.

The main findings of the The Primary Care Workforce Survey, external were:

• A total 3,645 whole-time equivalent GPs worked in Scotland in 2015 - 2% fewer than in 2013
• The number of practices reporting a GP vacancy doubled between 2013 and 2015
• Half of the vacancies reported on 31 August 2015 had been vacant for more than six months
• More than a third of GPs working in Scottish general practice are over 50

Dr Sian Tucker from the Royal College of General Practitioners says better use of resources in mental health must happen.

Image source, Thinkstock

Dr Tucker says: "We can't employ new staff we have to rearrange what we have got."

She highlights the important role of the third sector. 

Green MSP Alison Johnstone says there very much needs to be an increase in GPs but points out that the Allied Health Professions Federation also focused on the multidisciplinary team.

Gabrielle Stewart from Representative of Allied Health Professions Federation says the role of AHPs is often misunderstood like physiotherapy only being for backs and knees.

Aileen Bryson from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society says there is a lot of confusion about hubs.

She says the committee talked about GP hubs but it should be community hubs to include all the professionals.

Theresa Fyffe from the Royal College of Nursing says hubs are not helpful if a patient has to travel far to access it.

Ms Fyffe says integration is not just about health professionals, but also social workers and the third sector and perhaps a network is better than a hub.

She says there must be more focus on the multidisciplinary team.

Committee convener and Labour MSP Neil Findlay ask about GP hubs.

Dr Sian Tucker from Representative Royal College of General Practitioners says there are three types of hub:

1. urgent care resource hub for out of hours services
2. there is a hub with new GPs at their heart
3. integrated hubs or locality hubs bringing together services and a single point of access

First up we have: 

• Dr Sian Tucker, Clinical Director, Lothian Unscheduled Care Service, Representative Royal College of General Practitioners
• Aileen Bryson, Head of Policy Scotland, Royal Pharmaceutical Society
• Gabrielle Stewart, Policy Officer for Scotland College of Occupational Therapists, Representative of Allied Health Professions Federation
• Theresa Fyffe, Director, Royal College of Nursing

The committee agrees to make no recommendations on the Health and Care Professions Council (Miscellaneous Amendments) Rules Order of Council 2016 (SSI 2016/693), external.

The Health Committee, external will begin by considering the following negative instrument— Health and Care Professions Council (Miscellaneous Amendments) Rules Order of Council 2016 (SSI 2016/693), external.

The policy behind this Instrument is to make amendments to the Rules to: 

• Improve the range of online services for applicants and registrants. 
• Remove the character reference requirement for applicants while retaining the self-declaration. 
• Allow panel Chairs to give directions about the case management of fitness to practise cases without the need for a preliminary hearing. 
• Update the Practice Committee Rules so they refer to the ‘Health and Care Professionals Council’ rather than the ‘Health Professionals Council’, which reflects their change of name in August 2012.   

A warning Scotland faces a shortfall of 830 family doctors has sparked fresh calls for Nicola Sturgeon to tackle the GP "crisis".

The Scottish Conservative party has urged the first minister to commit to spending more on general practice.

Image source, Thinkstock

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) is forecasting the GP deficit will happen by 2020.

The Scottish government said Scotland had the highest number of GPs per head in the UK.

• Increase awareness across the primary care workforce and the public generally of the AHP role, impact and availability of direct access to AHPs
• Primary Care redesign to enable direct access to AHP services through better screening or triage and rapid referral. 
• Contracts with independent GP practices to provide clear incentive for developing direct access to multi-disciplinary services  

Image source, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Workforce planning and development to reflect the changing demands on the multidisciplinary team, the assets (e.g. interface with other sectors) already available in that team, and new models of care rather than the alternative uni-professional focus  

• Funding of primary care to reflect 2020 vision of balanced, multidisciplinary teams  
• Support for the principles in ‘The future of primary care in Scotland: a view from the professions’  

Health and Social Care Partnerships and community health hubs have a unique opportunity to shape and support this work to ensure that the local population has access to the services they require. 

The transformation of primary care, the development of multidisciplinary hub teams and further collaboration between pharmacists and GP practices will fundamentally improve patient outcomes and reduce pressure at the pinch points in the current system. 

We believe the current three year funding and new pharmacist posts gives an ideal opportunity to robustly evaluate the new ways of working with a view to ultimately providing a national strategic approach to holistic person centred care in the primary care setting .   

Image source, Thinkstock

"The RPS believes health and wellbeing will be improved by ensuring workforce plans recognise and use the skills and experience of pharmacists to support patients who take medicines as part of a comprehensive health and social care team approach within people’s own localities."

Last year an independent review said a new blueprint was needed for out-of-hours medical services in Scotland, an independent review has concluded.

It highlighted  the need for multi-disciplinary teams working together at urgent care resource hubs across Scotland.

The teams would include GPs, nurses, physiotherapists, community pharmacists, social care workers and other specialists.

The review, external was commissioned by the Scottish government.

It forms part of the government's plans to transform primary care services in light of the demands of Scotland's ageing population, and as health and social care services are integrated.

Image source, NHS SCOTLAND

The 28 recommendations, made by Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie in the Primary Care Out-of-Hours Review, have been welcomed by Health Secretary Shona Robison.

The other recommendations include:

• Developing a set of national standards for urgent out-of-hours care
• Improving patient record systems and technology
• Further developing support for self-care
• Enhancing joint working between health boards including the Scottish Ambulance Service and NHS 24
• Offering newly-qualified GPs a one-year post to include out-of-hours work with extra support and continuing professional development in out-of-hours medical care.

The Health Committee, external will shortly take evidence on GPs and GP hubs from: 

• Dr Sian Tucker, Clinical Director, Lothian Unscheduled Care Service, Representative Royal College of General Practitioners
• Aileen Bryson, Head of Policy Scotland, Royal Pharmaceutical Society
• Gabrielle Stewart, Policy Officer for Scotland College of Occupational Therapists, Representative of Allied Health Professions Federation
• Theresa Fyffe, Director, Royal College of Nursing

Image source, bbc

The committee will  then take evidence from 

• Dr Elaine McNaughton, GP and Deputy Chair (Policy), Royal College of General Practitioners Scotland 
• Elaine Thomson, Locality Team Leader (Pharmacy) Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership, Representative Royal Pharmaceutical Society
• Christopher Rice, Senior Charge Nurse, NHS Shetland
• Linda Harper, Associate Nurse Director, NHS Grampian