Three GPs surgeries in Cornwall offer shifts to doctors on staycation in the county because they are so short staffed
- Surgeries in Cornwall are asking doctors on staycation to put holidays on hold
- Roseland Surgeries need GPs to work extra shifts due to shortage of doctors
- Number of permanent doctors nationally has fallen by 2,000 since 2017
Three surgeries in Cornwall are asking doctors on staycation in the county to put their holidays on hold and work some extra shifts due to a shortage of GPs as official figures show the number of permanent doctors nationally has fallen by 2,000 since 2017.
The Roseland Surgeries, which usually has four doctors based at surgeries in Tregony, Portscatho and St Mawes, have taken to social media to ask visiting GPs to take up the offer and ‘help pay for the extortionate cost of the hols’. The team has been affected by a GP relocating.
Practice manager Nicola Davies said she had tried to fill the shifts without any luck before posting a stunning picture of the area with a request for help on Twitter on Tuesday.
Three surgeries in Cornwall are asking doctors on staycation in the county to put their holidays on hold and work some extra shifts due to a shortage of GPs (St Ives pictured)
Practice manager Nicola Davies said she had tried to fill the shifts without any luck before posting a stunning picture of the area with a request for help on Twitter on Tuesday
The message said: ‘If you’re a GP coming down to Cornwall on holiday, and you fancy a locum session or two (to help pay for the extortionate costs of the hols) please give me a shout….you might like what you see!’
Ms Davies told the BBC: ‘The scenery is beautiful, so hopefully I can attract someone.’ With the remaining doctors also wanting their own holidays in August, she said ‘we were struggling to fill the sessions left’.
The practice manager added that the problem was being made worse by a ‘shortage of locums in Cornwall generally’ and the ‘geography of where we are’.
She said: ‘There’s a real drive if you want to come down to the peninsula, so getting somebody over here can be a little bit of a challenge.’ Having tried more conventional methods of recruitment, Ms Davies said ‘there are just not the doctors available, so I had to think outside the box’.
The Roseland Surgeries, which usually has four doctors based at surgeries in Tregony, Portscatho and St Mawes, have taken to social media to ask visiting GPs to take up the offer and ‘help pay for the extortionate cost of the hols’ (stock)
Nationally, there were 2000 fewer full-time doctors in March 2021, compared to March 2017.
Professor Martin Marshall, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, told the BBC: ‘General practice was already facing intense workforce and workload pressures – the pandemic has only exacerbated these. We urgently need more GPs and other members of the practice team.’
Ms Davies told the BBC: ‘I thought, maybe there’s somebody who, if they’re here, might want to earn a bit for their Airbnb, their bed and breakfast or their holiday cottage. So I got the best photo that I’ve got of the village and posted it.’
Her tweet has sparked interest from medics around the country.
Paul Cook, GP and NHS Kernow Clinical Commissioning Group chairman, said surgeries in Cornwall had a number of GP vacancies – similar to general practices ‘up and down the country.’
He told the BBC: ‘We would love to encourage people to relocate and work in our wonderful county – who wouldn’t want to be in such a stunning and friendly place.’
Mr Cook said Cornwall was a ‘great place to work with a lot of career development opportunities.’