Scottish general practitioners committee

The Scottish GPC (general practitioners committee) represents all general practitioners working in Scotland. Find out more about our priorities, meetings and members.

Location: Scotland
Audience: GPs
Updated: Thursday 24 October 2024
Working hours article illustration

The general practitioners committee Scotland represents all GPs working in Scotland, including partners, salaried GPs and locums. We consider and act on matters affecting GPs in Scotland - including contractual matters.

The committee meets five times a year and has representatives from all 14 health board areas in Scotland. We also work closely with other BMA committees to represent GPs at a UK level.

 

Our priorities

2018 GMS contract

On 1 April 2018 the new Scottish GMS contract was launched following three years of negotiations with Scottish Government, and a poll of the profession. The aims of the contract are to relieve the unsustainable workload facing general practice and reduce the business risks of becoming a GP.

Read about the Scottish GP contract

Workforce

NHS Education for Scotland published the 2023 Annual General Practice Workforce Survey on 12 December 2023, which provides information on numbers of General Practitioners (GPs), Nurses and other General Practice staff in Scotland on 31 March 2023.

Responding to the workforce statistics Dr Andrew Buist, Chair of the BMA's Scottish GP Committee, said: "These figures – which show falling GP numbers on both headcount and crucially WTE - back up the experience of our members who have consistently reported the huge challenge of meeting growing demand without the GPs needed to maintain good patient access. There is more evidence that not only are we not on track to meet the Scottish Government’s commitment for 800 GPs, when GP registrars are excluded, we are actually going backwards. This should be a massive wake up call to the Government. Last year’s figure was the lowest WTE figure seen for GPs since the workforce survey began and this year it has fallen further."

Read the full response.

Safe workload guidance for GPs in Scotland

New ‘Safe workload guidance for GPs in Scotland’ has been produced by BMA Scotland to help GPs and their practices protect themselves from unmanageable workload.

Closing your patient list

GMS practices in Scotland can apply formally to close the practice list if their workload is jeopardising their ability to provide safe care for their registered patients.

Read our guidance on closing your patient list

Partnership guidance for GPs in Scotland

Updated ‘Partnership guidance for GPs in Scotland’ has also been produced, giving general guidance on medical partnerships under the NHS in Scotland. It should not be treated as a complete or authoritative statement of the statutory provisions governing partnerships.

It is strongly recommended that anyone considering any action based on the guidance contact the BMA for further advice before taking any final decisions.

 

Our people

Chair: Iain Morrison

Deputy chairs:
Chris Black 
Alan Miles

Co-opted members (2024/25 session):

Dr Chris Williams – for his strong interest in IT, eHealth and digital healthcare. Chris is the co-chair in the Scottish Joint GP IT Group and can provide insight into the various information technology groups that he attends as deputy chair of RCGP.

 

Members

 

The executive subcommittee is composed of the GPC Scotland office bearers (Iain Morrison, Chris Black and Alan Miles), the chair of SLMC conference (Alastair Taylor), and five elected members from SGPC.

For the 2024/25 session, the elected members are: Jennifer English, John Ip, Andrea Lomas, Paul McMullan, Tyra Smyth.

Elected by local medical committees

Ayrshire & Arran LMC (2 representatives)
Rachel Fraser 
Tona Fernandez-Ares
 
Borders LMC (1 representative and 1 deputy)
Rachel Mollart
Deputy - Robert Manson
 
Dumfries & Galloway LMC (1 representative and 1 deputy)
Charles Dunnett  
 
Fife LMC (2 representatives)
Fiona Henderson
Susie Mitchell
 
Forth Valley LMC (2 representatives)
Teresa Cannavina 
David Herron 
 
Glasgow LMC (6 representatives)
Maureen Byrne
Mark Fawcett
Patricia Moultrie
Austin Nichol
Scott Queen
Michael Rennick
 
Grampian LMC (3 representatives)
Mish Bhana
Samantha Fenwick
Robert Lockhart
 
Highland LMC (2 representatives)
Paul McMullan
Alan Miles
 
Lanarkshire LMC (3 representatives)
Lynn Duff 
Keith McIntyre 
Tyra Smyth  
 
Lothian LMC (5 representatives)
Jenny English
Andrew Forder
Annie Lomas 
Neil MacRitchie
Catriona Morton 
 
Orkney LMC (1 representative and 1 deputy)
Marjolein Van Schayk 
Deputy – Antony Wilkinson 
 
Shetland LMC (1 representative and 1 deputy)
Chloe Evans
Members (continued)

Tayside LMC (2 representatives)
Claire Part
Andrew Thomson 

Western Isles LMC (1 representative and 1 deputy)
Brian Michie

Elected by the annual representative meeting (from a Scottish constituency)
Stuart Blake

Elected by Conference of LMCs (UK) to GPC
Andrew Buist

Voting nominees of other bodies:

GP Registrar Committee
Thomas Green 

Sessional GPs committee
Jennifer MacDonald

Medical Practitioners Union
Andrew Gray

Non-voting nominees of other bodies:

Chair of Scottish Council
Iain Kennedy

Chair of UK GPC
Andrew Buist and Alan Stout

Deputy Chair of GPC England
Samira Anane

Chair of NI GPC
Frances O'Hagan

Chair of GPC Wales
Gareth Oelmann

Chair of Scottish LMC conference
Alastair Taylor

Representative from Scottish consultants committee
Hazem Youssef

Observers

Scottish Council of Royal College of General Practitioners
Chris Provan
Chris Williams (deputising)

Scottish Dental Practitioners Committee
John Davidson
Gillian Lennox (deputising)

Forty-three elected regionally for GPC UK (4 Scottish representatives)

Ayrshire and Arran/Borders/Dumfries and Galloway/Lanarkshire - Chris Black

Grampian/Highland/Orkney/Shetland/Western Isles - Iain Kennedy

Glasgow and Clyde - John Ip

Forth Valley/Fife /Lothian/Tayside - Andrew Cowie

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Develop your skills as a committee member

Take part in one of our free courses designed to give you the right skills to:

  • break down equality and inclusion bias (CPD-accredited)
  • value difference and inclusivity
  • live our BMA behaviour principles.
Find out more

Our meetings

GPC Scotland meets five times a year to discuss the latest issues facing general practice in Scotland. These meetings are open to members of GPC Scotland only, but non-members can apply for the BMA committee visitors scheme.

Meeting dates:

  • Thursday 14 November 2024 (virtual)
  • Thursday 30 January 2025
  • Thursday 20 March 2025 (virtual) 
  • Thursday 12 June 2025 

All meetings take place from 10.30am to 5pm either virtually or at:

BMA Scotland
14 Queen Street
Edinburgh
EH2 1LL

SGPC executive

Meetings dates: 

  • Thursday 12 December 2024
  • Thursday 27 February 2025
  • Thursday 15 May 2025

All meetings take place from 2pm to 5pm either virtually or at:

BMA Scotland
14 Queen Street
Edinburgh
EH2 1LL

For more information about our meetings, please email us or call 0131 247 3054.

 

How to join

There are many advantages to becoming involved in our committees. You can actively influence BMA policy-making and negotiations, represent your colleagues' voices and develop your leadership skills. 

Each committee has a few routes to becoming an elected member. In the case of SGPC, these are: 

Local medical committees
  • Seats/term - every year, all 14 LMCs in Scotland elect representatives for a one-session term. Seats are distributed evenly between LMCs based on the number of patients in the area. LMCs with only one representative also have a deputy representative.
  • Timeline - elections are run by the LMCs and timelines may vary. 
  • Eligibility - contact your local medical committee to find out the eligibility criteria.
Regional elections to GPC UK
  • Seats/term - every year, a third of the 43 UK regions elect a representative for a three-session term to GPC UK. Scottish elected representatives have a voting seat on GPC UK and SGPC.
  • Timeline - elections are usually held in February or March. 
  • Eligibility - all GPs who are BMA members are eligible to stand if they live or work in the relevant regions. All GPs can vote in this election.
LMC UK conference elections
  • Seats/term - every year, representatives of the LMC UK conference are elected to GPC UK for a one-session term. The elected representatives from Scotland have a voting seat on SGPC.
  • Timeline - elections are held at the LMC UK conference in May.
  • Eligibility - only LMC UK conference delegates can stand and vote in this election.
ARM elections
  • Seats/term - every year, members from a Scottish constituency are elected to GPC UK from the ARM elections for a one-session term. The first Scottish representative via STV (single transferable vote) will have a voting seat on SGPC.
  • Timeline - the nomination period opens a month before ARM, and voting closes a few days after ARM.
  • Eligibility - all UK GP BMA members can stand for election but only ARM delegates can vote.
GP registrars regional elections
  • Seats/term - every year, half of the 19 UK regions elect a representative for a two-session term. Representatives for Scotland North, Scotland West and Scotland East regions will then be eligible for election as the Scottish GP trainee representative and will have a voting seat on SGPC.
  • Timeline - GP registrars regional elections are usually held in March or April. Elections for the Scottish GP Trainee representative on SGPC are held at the first GP Trainee committee meeting of the session.
  • Eligibility - all GP registrars who are BMA members are eligible to stand if they live or work in the relevant regions. All GP registrars can vote in this election.
Sessional GPs committee elections
  • Seats/term - every year, one member for Scotland is elected from the sessional GPs committee elections for a three-session term. The elected member will have a voting seat on SGPC.
  • Timeline - this election is usually held in March or April.
  • Eligibility - all salaried, freelance and locum GPs* who are BMA members in Scotland are eligible to stand in this election. Retainer scheme GPs based in Scotland are also eligible to stand in this election, regardless of their time commitment. All salaried, freelance and locum GPs can vote in this election.

*Salaried or freelance/locum GPs will be eligible if, for the six months before the election, their NHS general practice performer's work has been solely as a salaried and/or freelance GP (excluding work as a GP appraiser) or a GP trainee, and an average of at least seven hours per week of NHS general practice work has been undertaken for that period.

Please check the election sections of the following committees for details about any running elections for representatives to SGPC:

These details are updated regularly, so please keep checking the pages throughout the year.

Should you wish to join the committee via LMCs elections, contact your local LMC for further information.

 

Get in touch

If you are interested in finding out more about the work of the SGPC, email [email protected]​.