THE Wee County remains in the middle of a GP recruitment mire, with at least one practice struggling to hire a doctor for around two years.

An inability to attract younger doctors to general practice means around 25 per cent of surgeries in the country are operating with vacant posts.

The situation has been described as "critical" with a number of experienced GPs currently approaching retirement.

Dr Kenneth Stirling, whose practice is based out of the Clackmannanshire Community Healthcare Centre in Sauchie, said he and his colleagues provide a service for around 9,000 patients.

He told the Advertiser: "Historically, we had six GPs here but at the minute we are operating with four.

"We've been trying to recruit a doctor for two years now, after one of our partners left. The last time we placed an advert, we had no applications.

"It's my impression that a lot of junior doctors are looking for a salaried position, as opposed to coming on board as a partner."

He added: "Clackmannanshire, as a whole, is running out of GPs. But it's not just us; it's the same in many other areas.

"We are in a position at the moment that we would hire two GPs if we could. Perhaps even a third, as one of our partners is at the stage where he would ordinarily be looking to scale back his hours."

When asked about the pressures he and his fellow GPs were facing, Dr Stirling said: "We're busy. But we're accustomed to that and to working hard. We're just trying to make the best out of a bad situation which we cannot immediately fix."

Dr Richard Simpson, the Mid Scotland and Fife MSP who served as GP for 30 years, added: "General practice in Clackmannanshire will be trouble fairly soon. It's GP critical but it's a similar picture in lots of communities.

"Last June, I sent out a practice-based survey to around 950 GPs in Scotland and got 350 replies in 10 days. Normally, you are lucky to about 5-10 per cent, but this was more than a third.

"And when we analysed those responses, we discovered there was 15 per cent vacancies, which is appalling."

The Scottish Government said spending on general practice has increased significantly in recent years, with an additional £45 million earmarked in the Primary Care Fund set out in next year's budget.

However, in another survey the British Medical Association (BMA) found that around a quarter of surgeries in Scotland have at least one unfilled post.

Dr Alan McDevitt, chair of BMA Scotland’s GP committee, said: “It is not enough to talk about record numbers of GPs when the vacancy rate shows that there are simply not enough doctors to meet the demands being put upon general practice. Every unfilled vacancy puts more and more strain on remaining GPs.

“The Scottish Government needs to commit to improving recruitment and retention, as well as to increased funding to general practice and primary care.”

In response, health minister Shona Robison MSP said: "Scotland has the highest number of GPs per head of the population of the four UK countries and under this government the number of GPs working in Scotland has increased.

"Funding for GP services has increased each year...rising from £704.61 million in 2007/08 to £852.6 million in 2014/15. The new £45m Primary Care Fund in the 2016/17 draft budget, equates to an increase for primary care of over six per cent above the investment in the GP contract from the Scottish Government."

She added: “We are committed to supporting and enhancing primary care and the work of GPs. [This] led to the announcement in December, when Scotland became the first country in the UK to agree to completely abolish the existing bureaucratic and burdensome GP payments system, freeing up GPs to spend more time with patients.”

A spokesperson from NHS Forth Valley added: "We are committed to supporting and enhancing primary care within NHS Forth Valley and work with GP practices locally to support them in a number of ways including developing new ways of working, encourage working with other practices, employing salaried GPs and promoting Forth Valley as an attractive place to work."