If you listen to the national news you’ll have heard today about £20,000 ‘golden hellos’ being offered to trainee GPs to work in specific areas across the country.
As OnTheWight reported last year, the Isle of Wight is one of those areas that has a shortage of family GPs.
Eligible posts
The scheme to attract trainee GPs requires them to remain in the post for at least three years and it continues here again this year.
A spokesperson for NHS England told OnTheWight,
“The Isle of Wight is one of the areas in the country that does find it harder to recruit GPs. It has ten posts (out of almost 200 across the country) that are eligible for this top-up incentive.
“When it was introduced last year, all ten posts were filled with trainees in the first recruitment round – there are two a year.”
Three more eligible posts
The spokesperson went on to confirm,
“This year we have seven out of the ten posts filled with a further recruitment round to happen in November.”
As well as a shortage in GPs, the Isle of Wight NHS Trust has also reported over 100 vacancies and in August this year spent almost £1m on agency staff.
