A report from UCAS showed that there has been an eleven per cent drop in the last five years in those living in Scotland applying for medicine courses, with just 1,030 students applying for courses starting in 2017.
An Audit Scotland report out today revealed the staffing crisis facing the NHS, with overworked medical staff unable to keep up with demand.
The problem has been exacerbated by caps placed on universities for the number of medical places they can offer, with Aberdeen University reportedly saying they are having to turn away students due to the policy.
Scottish Conservative shadow secretary for education Liz Smith said:
“Given the report we’ve seen from Audit Scotland about the staffing crisis facing our NHS, this drop in university applications is deeply concerning.
“When we need to be recruiting as many new doctors as possible, fewer and fewer Scots are applying to study medicine at university.
“Our medical staff are already overstretched and facing ever increasing workloads, and if we are to ever create a sustainable NHS we need to see more doctors being trained.
“The current limit on student medical places is not helping the situation whatsoever, and the SNP need to listen to universities and ditch the cap so we can start training the medical workforce we need.