Exploring the accessibility of high-quality General Practices (GPs) in ageing communities in Scotland

General Practices (GPs) provide primary healthcare services and are the first stop for getting treatment and advice. Worryingly, Scotland's GP workforce is in short supply and decreasing yearly. Numerous studies have focused on the geospatial distribution of general practitioners (GPs) in the UK, including specific attention to the Scottish context. Understanding the spatial distribution of GP in Scotland is paramount as it offers valuable insights into healthcare accessibility and resource allocation within the region. In Scotland, the ageing process has been ongoing, and the population of pensionable age is predicted to be 22.9% by 2043, and population ageing is likely to increase the prevalence of age-related diseases in Scotland. This study aimed to investigate GP spatial accessibility and service quality in Scotland's ageing communities. The origin-destination pairs between 6976 data zones and 907 GPs were obtained using network analysis on ArcGIS. An improved 3SFCA algorithm was applied to calculate the spatial accessibility of all GP in Scotland. And refer to the Health and Care Experience Survey 2022 to count the service quality of GP. Finally, it was found that many data zones could not access GP within 10 minutes in walking and cycling modes. There were significant differences in GP accessibility and quality between data zones of different ages in different travel modes. The communities with the lowest levels of ageing differed from the communities with other groups of ageing in terms of GP accessibility as well as quality across all modes of travel. With the improved 3SFCA methodology, a researcher or policymaker can find out the accessibility and quality of facilities within 10 minutes and help assess the construction of 10-minute neighbourhoods.