Head of Project Management at InnoScot Health, Gillian Henderson considers the opportunities for new clinicians

With a new intake of junior doctors ready to join the ranks of NHS Scotland, it’s an opportunity to welcome positive progress and the expansion of an ever more innovation-ready workforce at an important time.

As we continue the pivotal transformation and renewal process, it’s also pleasing to note data indicating that the face of the country’s hard-working healthcare staff is ever more balanced and inclusive.

According to the General Medical Council (GMC) Workforce Report 2022 published last year, 47.5% of registered doctors were recorded as female – a significant increase on the 38% figure noted in 2008 – with 37.6% of consultants comprising women.

It further noted that our NHS workforce in Scotland boasts the highest proportion of female doctors across the UK at a total of 53% – a positive development indeed which could mean that health inequalities still being experienced by women are better understood and more quickly addressed.

The overall picture is also very encouraging with records levels of investment set to see an additional 153 trainee doctor posts available this year – thought to be the largest annual expansion on record, representing a 2.3% increase above the current whole time equivalent workforce of 6570 trainees. Successful applicants will take up their posts this coming August.

Furthermore, it bodes well that statistics published in March by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) showed that 1,156 (94%) of the 1,231 jobs advertised were successfully filled last year, including all entry-level posts in anaesthetics, radiology, emergency medicine, surgery and psychiatry.

The data also showed that 100% of all GP training programmes advertised were filled for the first time ever.

While lingering issues around staff retention are not to be ignored – and it undoubtedly remains a challenging time for the profession – taken together, such figures show a strong desire and determination to address problems at grassroots level, to get the workforce balance right, and meet changing demands across a wide range of specialties and general practice in particular.

Now, as we welcome fresh thinking from junior doctors who have already been immersed in innovation-inspiring education, we must be ready to harness the promise which that holds, enabling better quality care and outcomes for every patient.

With new technological developments and healthcare breakthroughs happening all the time, innovation-minded junior doctors are arguably best placed to fully exploit their opportunities as we build towards a more sustainable health service where staff feel empowered.

In such an environment, innovation becomes essential and every day – the lifeblood of long-term transformation – where NHS Scotland can tap into the benefits of greater gender equality and more diverse backgrounds which can in turn offer rich new insights

Simply bolstering the workforce with a fresh intake of enthusiastic staff is important of course, but junior doctors must also be given the right tools – both practical and educational – to continue to inform the direction of transformational travel.

As we know, first impressions can be telling. They can place existing issues in an entirely new light for those who may have become accustomed to them and help to signpost significant positive change. Junior doctors could be key to seeing those opportunities first for greater process efficiency.

Fundamentally, this August is the ideal time start turning junior doctors into Scotland’s innovation leaders of tomorrow and for translating the latest groundbreaking academic thinking into clinical practice today for a healthier, more resilient society.

A formal NHS Scotland partner of 20 years, InnoScot Health values those new insights, working closely with, and supporting entrepreneurial, forward-thinking innovators to navigate complex areas such as intellectual property rights, medical device regulation, and funding and investment to get vital innovation into patients’ hands.

InnoScot Health is proud to be part of a collaborative group of organisations supporting Scottish innovators taking part in the NHS Clinical Entrepreneurs Programme (CEP) which is open to junior and early career doctors. Applications for cohort 9 will open on 1 October.

We are also there to help NHS innovators juggle clinical, commercial, and personal demands.

InnoScot Health firmly believes that a new generation’s limitless mindset can become synonymous with positive transformation, career advancement, and the breaking of glass ceilings for widespread health and social care benefit.