THE doctor tasked with leading a commission on NHS staffing in Scotland says the workforce shortage is "one of the biggest challenges" facing the health service.

Dr Miles Mack, a GP and chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, will spearhead a taskforce examining how to reduce the reliance on agency staff, the impact of the ageing population on workforce requirements and how to attract and retain staff in light of the ongoing dispute over the public sector pay cap.

Dr Mack said: "The workforce shortage within health and social care is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges faced by the NHS as it responds to population changes across Scotland.

"This workforce commission is an opportunity to take a detailed look, with other independent stakeholders, at the situation as it is now and devise evidence-based recommendations for the future."

Dr Mack has previously said that general practice in Scotland is facing an estimated shortfall of 828 GPs by 2021 as fewer medical graduates choose to specialise in general practice and the ageing population exacerbates demand for primary care services.

The RCGP also warned in June that a further 226 EU-trained GPs may choose to leave Scotland once the European divorce is finalised.

The NHS and Social Care Workforce Commission has been set up by Labour, but the party stressed that Dr Mack is not a member and said he will remain politically neutral while the group carries out its work.

Other commission members include RCN director Theresa Fyffe, Kim Hartley Keen of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, June Andrews, professor of dementia studies, Dave Watson of the public services union Unison, and John Marr from the GMB trade union's Scottish Ambulance Service branch.

It comes after the RCN Scotland warned in the June that there are ''too few nurses''. The Government later announced an extra 2,600 training places for nurses and midwives will be created over the next four years, reversing previous cuts.

RCN Scotland Director Theresa Fyffe said the creation of the commission was a "step in the right direction".

She said: “With nursing vacancies on the increase and the reported difficulties of recruiting enough nursing staff in many areas across Scotland, it’s of paramount importance that Scotland has the right workforce in the right place for the future. RCN Scotland is looking forward to working with people from across all parties and with other organisations to ensure we get the workforce right.”

Anas Sarwar, Labour health spokesman, said morale amongst workers in the NHS is at "rock bottom".

Mr Sarwar said: "A decade of SNP mismanagement has left our NHS staff overworked, undervalued, under-resourced and underpaid. We have severe shortages of NHS staff including nurses, midwives, GPs and consultants. This is now starting to impact on services and patient care too, with a number of services under threat as we simply don't have the staff to operate them.

"Staff morale is at rock bottom in the health service, with staff reporting there simply aren't enough of them to do the job properly."

Although overall staffing in NHS Scotland is at a record high, many departments are battling with long-term vacancies and increasing numbers of unfilled posts as the number of employees needed to cope with demand increases.

In February, the Royal College of Radiologists warned that radiology services in Scotland were on the "brink of collapse" due to a shortage of qualified radiologists. Dr Grant Baxter, chairman of the College's Scottish Standing Committee said the situation was the worst he had seen it in 34 years and medical diagnoses and operations "would grind to a halt in some hospitals" unless the crisis was reversed.

There have also been calls from leading medics to reinstate the distinction award bonuses worth up to £75,000 a year for top consultants to help tackle the rising number of posts lying vacant for six months or more.

A spokeswoman for the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh said: “Investment in our current and future workforce is essential both financially and to create a culture where colleagues have the time to care, time to train, and time to research. Workforce planning needs a clear strategic direction to tackle the recruitment and retention issues that exist.”

A spokesman for Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “Labour's hypocrisy on health is staggering – when they were in office they threatened to close A&E units which were only saved by the SNP.

“And it is the SNP government which has delivered record high NHS funding as well as an all-time high numbers of doctors, nurses and other staff across the NHS in Scotland – an overall increase of more than 12,000 over the last decade.

“We will increase health spending even further – unlike Labour's plans at the last Scottish election which saw them pledge even less money for the NHS than the Tories.”