A rural practice in the Scottish Isles is offering a salary of up to £160,000 plus a £10,000 ‘golden hello’ in a bid to fill five GP positions.
The local health board is renewing its attempts to attract new GPs to Uist and Benbecula, a group of islands in the Outer Hebrides, to work at Benbecula Medical Practice as well as a new practice.
Pulse reported last year that the same area was offering GPs a £150,000 salary in a bid to fill staffing gaps on the remote Scottish islands.
This year NHS Western Isles is offering a salary of up to £110,737 plus 40% enhancement, a £1,349 distant island allowance, relocation expenses and a £10,000 golden hello.
NHS Western Isles said that the roles ‘will appeal to experienced GPs’, but also to those earlier in their careers ‘looking for the challenge’ of widening their clinical skills and providing care in a remote environment.
It mentioned that the ‘remote-island location’ of these roles provides an ‘unrivalled extra sense of responsibility and reward’.
The job advert said: ‘We are ready and excited to welcome GPs with a sense of adventure and a passion for remote and rural medicine to escape the rat race and embrace a more healthy work-life balance with NHS Western Isles.
‘The posts will be based in Benbecula Medical Practice, an island scattered with lochs and lochans, endless sea and spectacular seascapes and surroundings.
‘The post holders will be able to use and further develop their skills and experience through the provision of community hospital medical cover, which is also part of this role.’
It comes after a Government scheme aimed at boosting doctor numbers in rural areas was recently criticised as it resulted in only two new GPs being hired in Scotland.
Figures presented to the Scottish Parliament revealed that out of 52 students who graduated from the first cohort of the Scottish Graduate Entry Medicine (ScotGEM), only 10 went into GP training, and only two took up posts in the north of Scotland.
Last month, the Scottish Government announced that it is planning to allocate an extra £10.5m to general practice as part of a shift to more community-based care.
