Scotland's first graduate entry programmes for medicine are to start at St Andrews and Dundee University in 2018, the health secretary has announced.

The courses will be run by the universities' medical schools in collaboration with the University of the Highlands and Islands to meet the current and future needs of the country's NHS.

Shona Robison said it is part of a Scottish Government commitment to attracting and retaining the best talent into Scottish healthcare.

Current medical degrees take five or six years but the new programme will be a four year medical degree for students who are already graduates and wish to train as doctors.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon first announced the graduate programme earlier in 2016 as part of a series of initiatives.

The graduate entry programme requires approval by the General Medical Council and the Scottish Government said it will work closely with the medical schools and the regulator to gain it as soon as possible.

Teaching staff are to be appointed next year and the course developed for applications in the spring of 2018 and classes beginning in the autumn of that year.

Ms Robison said: "I am delighted to announce that the medical schools in St Andrews and Dundee will deliver Scotland's first graduate entry programme for medicine, in collaboration with the University of the Highlands and Islands and partner health boards.

"This innovative new programme will give students the chance to experience how rewarding, challenging and diverse careers in primary care and remote and rural medicine can be.

"Scotland's first graduate entry programme in medicine was one of a number of initiatives announced by the First Minister earlier this year and it forms part of our commitment to create a more sustainable medical workforce and encourage more people into a career in healthcare, whatever their background.

"This course will enhance the range of medical education already available in Scotland through our five world-leading medical schools. It will extend medical placements from the NHS into independent and third sector settings, making community experience a central feature of the course.

"This will help to equip the graduates with the ability to work across health and social care boundaries."

Professor Gary Mires, dean of medicine at the University of Dundee, said: "We fully support the Scottish Government's vision for a health service that is better equipped to meet the challenges presented by our diverse population and distinct communities.

"We are confident that ScotGEM will deliver highly qualified, experienced and compassionate community leaders who are equipped and motivated to make a real difference to healthcare provision in Scotland.

"This is an excellent example of benefits arising from universities and the NHS working together, in Dundee's case through our pioneering Academic Health Science Partnership with NHS Tayside."

Professor David Crossman, dean of medicine at the University of St Andrews, said: "Graduate entry medicine courses have proven highly effective for training doctors who bring their experience and education from their first degree and often experience work outside the University and health sector.

"The development of ScotGEM is very good news for the people of Scotland and Scottish medicine. I am delighted that the University of St Andrews has been chosen to be part of this development."

Professor Crichton Lang, deputy principal of the University of the Highlands and Islands, said: "We are excited to have been selected as one of the universities which will deliver the Scottish Graduate Entry Medical Programme.

"Through the initiative, a significant number of medical students will access and undertake the majority of their training in communities around the Highlands and Islands region.

"This will both align with and contribute to our existing work in addressing remote and rural healthcare and will be another important strand in the development of our School of Health, Social Care and Life Sciences."