A group set up by the Scottish Government to address concerns that Scotland's GP contract was too focused on urban areas has said more must be done to support health services in remote and rural areas.

Sir Lewis Ritchie, who chaired the group, says their report should help to safeguard GP services in rural areas.

Key recommendations relate to attracting family doctors and the multi-disciplinary teams that support them to work in more remote areas. They include a call for relocation expenses and ‘golden hello’ recruitment incentives.

The report also recommends that any future versions of the GP contract should inlcude terms and conditions that recognise the diversity of working in remote and rural general practice. The group calls for more support to be given to dispensing practices, which incorporate the role undertaken by high street pharmacies in larger communities; and calls for the creation of a National Centre for Remote and Rural Health and Social Care to support innovation.

Health secretary Jeane Freeman is pledging to accept the report’s recommendations, which come after repeated warnings that the new GP contract did not take account of extra challenges doctors working in rural areas faced.

There was a strong sense among rural family doctors that the contract ‘did not do enough to support GPs faced with the specific challenges characteristic of rural primary care’, according to the report.

It states rural GPs ‘needs to be better understood’ by policymakers and health officials.

Other recommendations include rethinking the way health boards distribute funding to remote and rural areas, and setting up a new centre of excellence.

Ms Freeman says it is important that health services work in a way that is good for healthcare professionals and patients:

“Today’s recommendations aim to enhance primary care across remote, rural and island communities by ensuring stability for rural GP incomes alongside other measures that support innovative approaches to the use of IT and physical infrastructure, as well as recruitment and retention practices.

“I thank Sir Lewis and his colleagues for all the work involved in developing this important report and I look forward to continuing to work with them and others to continually improve the GP contract.”

Sir Lewis Ritchie says GPs and their colleagues are the ‘lynchpin’ of healthcare in remote and rural communities:

“The future wellbeing of Scottish general practice and primary care is of paramount importance both for those who receive and deliver services.

“I hope that this report, kindly informed both by health professionals and public representatives, will help to underpin excellence and sustainability of future services in remote and rural areas throughout Scotland.

“Going forward, we must do this well, do this with resolve, and do this together."