RCGP Scotland

About RCGP Scotland

What we do

Our work includes:

• Developing initiatives on behalf of members in Scotland
• Commenting on how UK initiatives and developments will affect Scottish general practice
• Ensuring that RCGP Scotland continues to be a leading player in primary care development within Scotland
• Listening to and working with patients, external agencies and members to help deliver the highest standards of general medical practice and excellence in patient care.

How we work

We have four key committees:

• Scottish council is the main, democratically elected governance committee, which develops and takes forward strategy for RCGP Scotland
• The Executive Committee is made up of the five Scottish Faculty Chairs (or their nominated representatives) which advises Officers outside of Scottish Council meetings and provides feedback and input from local Faculties.
• RCGP Scotland GP Registrar and First5 committee was formed in January 2016 as one of the governance committees of RCGP Scotland. The committee consists of GP Registrar and First5 representatives from the five Scottish faculties, and was established with the purpose of representing and promoting the voice of GP registrars and First5s in Scotland, working closely with RCGP Scotland and Scottish Council.
• RCGP Scottish Patient Forum represents the patient voice in Scotland, developing ideas and leading activities that encourage GPs to work in partnership most effectively with patients and the public.

RCGP Scottish council

The RCGP Scottish council is made up of GP members across Scotland. Each of the five Faculties - East, North, North East, South East and West - nominate their own Faculty Board members to be representatives at Scottish council with the Chair of each Faculty. There are also member representatives appointed for specific GP groups - GP registrar and First5. Scottish council is the main, democratically elected governance committee, which develops and takes forward strategy for RCGP Scotland.

Scottish council meetings take place on a quarterly basis with the Annual General Meeting being held in November. All members are entitled to attend the council meetings as observers and should declare their intention to attend by emailing the Scottish Office.

RCGP Scotland GP Registrar and First5 Committee

The RCGP Scotland GP Registrar and First5 committee was formed in January 2016 as one of the governance committees of RCGP Scotland.

The committee consists of GP registrar and First5 representatives from each of the five Scottish Faculties.

The committee was formed as a sub-committee of RCGP Scottish Council, which it reports directly to and is governed by. The aim of the committee is to give a voice to the future of general practice, by discussing areas of policy and membership that directly affect GP registrars and First5. The Chair of the committee is a member of Scottish Council.

The committee welcomes any input from members across Scotland, and can be contacted at: infoscotland@rcgp.org.uk

If your query is specific to one particular Faculty or individual, please include this in the subject line so that it can be appropriately dealt with.

Local Faculties

In addition to a base in Edinburgh, the College in Scotland is represented through five regional faculty offices in:

• East Scotland
• North Scotland
• North East Scotland
• South East Scotland
• West Scotland

Projects

Deep End project

The Scottish Deep End project was established in 2009, inspired by pioneering Welsh GP, Dr Julian Tudor Hart and his work on the inverse care law. General Practitioners at the Deep End work in general practices serving the 100 most deprived populations in Scotland, based on the proportion of patients on the practice list with postcodes in the most deprived 15% of Scottish data zones. The Deep End movement has now spread across the UK and beyond. Their key focus areas are: workforce, education, advocacy and research. More information on our projects, publications, podcasts and more can be found on the Deep End website. See also our active Twitter feed @deependGP. The current chair is Dr Carey Lunan and current academic lead is Dr David Blane.

Leadership for integration

Leadership for integration is a package of leadership development support for primary care and social care professionals to support them in delivering the integration agenda.

RCGP Scotland publications

• A digital foundation for general practice (PDF file, 1 MB)
• Strong Foundations: Scottish GP Premises (PDF file, 1.2 MB)
• Whole person medical care: the value of the General Practitioner (PDF file, 931 KB)
• Scottish Deep End Project - Impact of a cold damp home on my health (PDF file, 134 KB)
• RCGP Scotland and Scottish GP Committee joint paper: GP Quality Clusters (PDF file, 408 KB)
• The Scottish GP Workforce and Socioeconomic Health Inequalities (PDF file, 3 MB)
• RCGP Scotland update on IT and Data – June 2023 (PDF file, 485 KB)
• Retaining our GP workforce in Scotland - RCGP Scotland executive summary - December 2022 (PDF file, 283 KB)
• Retaining our GP workforce in Scotland - RCGP Scotland report - December 2022 (PDF file, 1.1 MB)
• From the Frontline - The changing landscape of Scottish general practice - RCGP Scotland - June 2019 (PDF file, 1.7 MB)
• #RenewGP - RCGP Scotland (PDF file, 109 KB)
• Wellbeing survey report – RCGP Scotland (PDF file, 318 KB)
• RCGP Scotland Loneliness action plan (PDF file, 282 KB)
• The Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016 – RCGP guidance (PDF file, 422 KB)
• Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016 – regulated activity response form (Word doc, 16.7 MB)
• Analysis of the proposed new GP contract 2018 (PDF file, 641 KB)
• Core values (PDF file, 409 KB)
• Joint Policy statement on General Practice based Pharmacists (PDF file, 161 KB)
• Future of Primary Care in Scotland (PDF file, 341 KB)
• Setting the strategy for quality in Scotland's General Practices (PDF file, 351 KB)
• The living better report (PDF file, 1.8 MB)
• Improving links in Primary Care (PDF file, 2.2 MB)
• RCGP Scotland Effective Interface module (PDF file, 835 KB)
• Academic General Practice in Scotland: securing the future - June 2009 (PDF file, 12.2 MB)

Useful links

• Welfare advice and health partnerships website helps embed welfare rights and money advisors within GP practices and primary care services.
• SIGN - Evidence based clinical practice guidelines for the NHS.

Contact us

RCGP Scotland
1st Floor, Unit 2, 38 Thistle Street
Edinburgh
EH2 1EN

Email: infoscotland@rcgp.org.uk
Telephone: 020 3188 7730

Events enquiries

Email: scotlandevents@rcgp.org.uk
Telephone: 020 3188 7740

Join the RCGP member forum