NHS Highland launches recruitment drive in England for rural GPs
Doctors are so unwilling to work in remote and rural communities in the Highlands that the region’s health board has had to go south of the border to recruit.
NHS Highland has commissioned Orchid, a marketing company based in the Channel Islands, to mount an extensive GP recruitment campaign in England.
Now, an illuminated van bearing stunning scenes of the Highlands has been driven around the streets of Liverpool during a major conference in the city.
And eye-catching adverts are to appear on buses and roadside billboards in Leeds in the hope that they will attract doctors to the Highlands.
NHS Highland chief executive Elaine Mead said: "We have had some problems recruiting GPs to some of our remote and rural areas, despite the fact that these are some of the most beautiful parts of the UK.
"We’ve now decided to be a bit more imaginative in trying to recruit GPs, which is where our Liverpool ‘recruitment van’ and Leeds advertising comes in."
The van was used in Liverpool from October 2-4, when the city hosted the annual conference of the Royal College of General Practitioners.
Both it and the stand NHS Highland mounted at the conference have already yielded a number of positive inquiries from interested GPs.
Elaine Mead said: "We are confident that there must be many GPs, either newly qualified or experienced, who would relish the lifestyle and career opportunities working in some of our more remote areas would provide.
"There are challenges for sure, but there are also very real positives to practising in an area.
"The workload is enormously varied, it’s possible to spend more time with patients and GPs can truly make a difference working with communities, colleagues and others helping to shape services."
The marketing campaign is focusing on attracting GPs to selected pilot areas including the North West Highland (Arisaig, Mallaig and the Small Isles) and Argyll and Bute (Kintyre and Mid Argyll).
NHS Highland is being supported in its work by the Scottish Government through the Being Here programme, with £1.5 million invested in testing innovative ways of recruiting to healthcare professionals, and particularly GPs, in rural areas of Scotland.
Cash incentives, in the form of ‘Golden Hellos’ may be offered to potential GP recruits.
For more information visit nhshighland-rural.scot.nhs.uk/why-rural.
