Barra locum GP cost reaches £500,000

Since September, when the last GP in the practice withdrew and the Health Board took over GP services on Barra, nine locum doctors have been used at a cost of £675 per day.

These figures emerge from Freedom of Information requests lodged by Barra counciilor, Kenneth Maclean, who said this week there were fears Barra would “never see a resident GP again” and described the local NHS as “a hostile place to work”.

Mr Maclean asked for “the total number of different locum doctors used in St Brendan’s Hospital and Clach Mhile Surgery since April 2021”. The answers were nine in 2021 and 18 in 2022. Since the beginning of September, when the Health Board took over, there have been nine locums.

The reply added, but did not explain: “The above is reflective of the locums who have taken part in each of the annual rotas. Not based on individual doctor numbers”.

The councillor asked for the “cost of locum doctors covering St Brendan’s Hospital since withdrawal of Castlebay Medical Practice”. The answer for 2021-22 was £301,098.52 and for the first six months of 2022-23, £154,383.50, rising at the rate of £675 a day.

Mr Maclean described the costs as “eye-watering”. His understood the dispute between the GP practice and Health Board was about “relatively small sums of money, based on an arrangement that worked well and went back to the year dot”.

He added: “As a result of all this, Barra has lost its GP practice and people are concerned they will never see a resident GP again. Patients do not know from one visit to the next if they will see the same doctor or if they will have to start re-explaining their situation. It is completely unsatisfactory and unnecessary”.

Mr Maclean feared “recruiting a permanent GP has become all the more difficult given that NHS Western Isles has let the situation become so toxic”.

It is understood the dispute between the GP practice and Health Board was about “relatively small sums of money, based on an arrangement that worked well and went back to the year dot”.

He added: “As a result of all this, Barra has lost its GP practice and people are concerned they will never see a resident GP again. Patients do not know from one visit to the next if they will see the same doctor or if they will have to start re-explaining their situation. It is completely unsatisfactory and unnecessary”.

Mr Maclean (pictured) feared “recruiting a permanent GP has become all the more difficult given that NHS Western Isles has let the situation become so toxic”.

He said: “In my opinion, this is ultimately a failure of management and will lead to real physical and mental hurt not just to people on Barra but across the whole of the islands. We may be the focus now but the reputation of the entirety of the local NHS will be noted as a hostile place to work”.

Dr Mark Willcox withdrew from the practice in August while the other partner, Dr Scott McMinn, had retired in 2021. From the beginning of September, the practice became “Health Board operated” until a replacement is found.

In 2020, the two GPs accused the Health Board of causing “needless alarm” by claiming the practice had withdrawn from the existing arrangement for providing cover. This interpretation was strenuously disputed.

He said: “In my opinion, this is ultimately a failure of management and will lead to real physical and mental hurt not just to people on Barra but across the whole of the islands. We may be the focus now but the reputation of the entirety of the local NHS will be noted as a hostile place to work”.