The funding deal, secured with your support last year, has done a lot to create some optimism for the profession. However, there are plenty of reasons to remain cautious. The Scottish Government’s …

Today, I can confirm that the Scottish Consultants committee has voted to prepare to ballot you – our members – on taking industrial action over both our working conditions and our pay. The c…

The BMA Scotland Gender Equality Group is looking at how we can better support women doctors and medical students across Scotland. We are keen to focus our work and resources on way that delivers t…

This week, the Scottish Government announced that Scotland’s 14 territorial health boards would be reduced to just two, in what the First Minister himself said would be “the most significant struct…

Press release from BMA Scotland

NOTE: Dr Nóra Murray-Cavanagh has been elected unopposed as the new Chair of the British Medical Association’s Scottish Council, the first woman to take up the post for more than 60 years. She will…

Following on from the disappointing outcome of our recent meeting with the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Angela Constance MSP – at which she informed us of her intention to impose the DDRB re…

We are jointly writing to you with an update as promised on the meeting of SCC and SSASC representatives with the new Cabinet Secretary. Frustratingly, it is not the positive news we hoped to be ab…

We know that general practice remains central to the sustainability of the NHS, yet for more than two decades it has operated under growing and increasingly unsustainable pressure. Practices have a…

August changeover can be an incredibly busy time for everyone.  With almost all resident doctors in Scotland rotating on the first Wednesday in August it’s hard to escape it, including our non-resi…

As GPs, I don’t need to tell you how vital it is we have reliable IT systems that work for us and patients. Put simply, clinical systems in general practice are not background machinery. They are t…

Summer holidays are upon us, and I hope that many of you will be able to get a well-deserved break with family and friends. We certainly need it as the pressure in the NHS is pretty relentless and …

Almost 2.5 million Scots have waited too long at accident and emergency departments since the height of the Covid pandemic six years ago - amid fears that John Swinney’s SNP government is overseeing a...

Report for ARM 2026 from Dr Iain Kennedy, Chair, BMA Scotland Council: With my term of office as chair of Scottish Council coming to an end this autumn, it is with some sadness but a…

The last time I updated you on the work of our committee we were awaiting the outcome of the Scottish Parliamentary elections and the establishment of a new Scottish Government. Well, there’s been …

A baby in Scotland requires to be transferred for urgent specialist surgery to England. A planned airlift is cancelled because this would mean the pilot working longer than their shift and so breac…

It was great to see so many of you at the Webinar for Workforce funding. It was one of the best attended events we have held, and shows the level of engagement the funding offer from the Scottish G…

A few years ago, I realised that I am disabled – and that the rights detailed in the Equality Act 2010 are for me. The legal definition of disability means that many doctors who are disabled, have …

There’s now only a matter of weeks to go until Scotland goes to the polls to vote in the next cohort of MSPs. In many ways, it’s a very different landscape from the last Holyrood election five year…

You will have recently received (or soon be about to receive) the confirmatory details of the workforce funding and non-staff expenses for 26/27. We are sorry this has taken some time to get out to…

First, I want to thank all of you who responded to our survey on medical school capacity. It is your insight that has helped us compile the report we are publishing today. Unions of course are noth…

John Swinney’s government is under fire after waiting times for A&E departments soared - with the situation facing patients branded ‘unacceptable’

After months of negotiations that culminated in a strike ballot and then ultimately an 11th hour breakthrough that saw strikes suspended, Scottish Resident Doctors have voted resoundingly to accept…

Dear All, We have passed the point of saying happy new year so let’s open with congratulations for getting through January! Just as we are sure you will have been busy, we have been doing a lot of …

I fear it is far too late to wish you all a happy new year. However, given this is the first time I have been in touch in 2026, I will wish you all the best for the rest of the year to come, combin…

The pressing need to address difficulties the Scottish public reports in getting an appointment with their GP was raised in last week’s budget. So will new funding and proposals for walk-in surgeries ...

It has been another extremely important week since strike action was suspended by the BMA’s Scottish Resident Doctors Committee (SRDC), with a resolution being achieved, ye…

After Scottish resident doctors delivered an overwhelming strike mandate to the BMA Scottish Resident Doctors’ Committee (SRDC), our negotiating team has been hard at work using that leverage in ex…

The end of the year gives us the chance to reflect on the year that’s been, if we are able to make time to pause in our busy lives. 2025 has offered its fair share of ups and downs: we have s…

If you’ve not yet returned your ballot in BMA Scotland’s strike ballot of resident doctors: what are you waiting for?! The last safe day to guarantee you have your say is in less than a week from t…

On Tuesday 25th November, like many of you I got a letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Neil Gray. And, like many of you, I was outraged by the news that, instead of negotiating with resid…

We’re now past the halfway point of the Scottish resident doctor industrial action ballot. Remember, the Scottish Government has inflicted a 17% real terms pay cut on you since 2008. Two years…

News from across Scotland and the world, plus sport, weather and big name interviews.

On Tuesday 25th November, like many of you I got a letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Neil Gray. And, like many of you, I was outraged by the news that, instead of negotiating with resid…

On Tuesday 25th November, like many of you I got a letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Neil Gray. And, like many of you, I was outraged by the news that, instead of negotiating with resid…