THE Scottish Government has come under renewed pressure to lift the cap on medical school places for Scottish students in the wake of this year's exams controversy.

Professor Jackie Taylor, president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Glasgow (RCPSG), said the entry numbers for the 2020/21 intake should be raised following the record-breaking Higher and Advanced Higher results.

Prof Taylor said it would be a "shot in the arm" for the NHS by providing increased supply of doctors more likely to stay in Scotland in future.

The Scottish Government’s own analysis has previously indicated that Scotland-domiciled graduates from Scottish medical schools are retained at almost twice the rate of graduates from the rest of the UK.

Prof Taylor has now written to Education Secretary John Swinney stressing that it is "in the long-term interests of the NHS in Scotland to lift the cap now".

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The call by the RCPSG comes after UK Department of Health announced last week that it would lift the cap on medical school places in England.

The Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh (RCPE) has also warned of a "brain drain" of talent south of the border if high achieving Scotland-based school leavers were left with no choice but to move to England for a place at medical school.

School exams were cancelled this year as a result of the pandemic, with pupils originally graded based on a formula devised by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) which took into account schools' past performance.

However, these was subsequently dropped in favour of exam predictions by teachers following an outcry over teenagers in poorer areas being adversely affected by downgrading.

As well as minimum entry requirements of at least four A's and a B at Higher, all entrants to medical school UK-wide must pass a psychometric assessment - the UCAT [University Clinical Aptitude Test] - set by universities.

As a result, Prof Taylor said she did not believe increasing the number of places would result in a higher drop out or failure rate among medical students later.

She said: "What we're asking is that the cap is reviewed and elevated if necessary so as not to disadvantage pupils.

"It's a very rigorous process to apply for medicine - it involves showing considerable commitment in terms of work experience, passing the UCAT test in addition to getting the grades.

"It would be very disappointing for those students who had a provisional offer and who have passed all the other requirements to lose a place based on the initial algorithm.

when subsequently on the regrading by teacher estimate they were found to have the appropriate grades.

"So that's why we're asking for the cap to be raised: to ensure they don't miss out on a place.

"And given the suggestion that those affected by downgrading were disproportionately from schools in more disadvantaged areas at a time when there's a huge push on widening access to medical schools, we don't want those pupils in particular to miss out."

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The total medical school intake for 2020/21 was planned at 1038 - an increase of 190 compared to 2015/16.

In 2019 Scottish universities were also told to recruit an extra 100 medical students from Scotland at the expense of those from the rest of the UK, following concerns about a long-term decline the the share of places going to Scottish-domiciled students. It had fallen from around 63% in 1999/2000 to 50% by 2016/17.

Complex modelling is used to determine how many medical school places the Scottish Government will fund each year based on a forecast of NHS workforce needs.

However, the RCPSG has long been critical that this modelling has fallen short.

Prof Taylor said this year's unprecedented circumstances had created the opportunity for a "pipeline of doctors" for the future.

"We know that people who have undergraduate training and postgraduate training in Scotland are much more likely to remain in Scotland," she said.

"So while we don't want to be too insular, at the same time we have to plan our workforce of the future.

"The modelling for this is always difficult and there has been a gradual increase in the number of medical school places in Scotland in the last few years, one of our concerns is that that isn't keeping pace with the workforce requirements.

"When you look at the other end of the spectrum and you look at recruiting consultants in Scotland, we still have a large number of consultant vacancies and over a third of appointments committees in Scotland are cancelled because there is either no - or no suitable - applicant.

"So there's a huge amount of work to do in ensuring we have a medical workforce fit for the future."

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A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “We are working with the five medical schools and the Scottish Funding Council to understand the impact of the pandemic on medical undergraduate intake numbers for 2020/21.

"The Scottish Government will ensure there are enough places at colleges and universities so that nobody misses out on a place they would otherwise have been awarded.”