Islands board to hire mental analyst

NHS Shetland is to recruit another consultant psychiatrist to bolster the in-isles mental health team.

The NHS board decided yesterday to advertise for another consultant.

But board members heard a recent drive to recruit GPs was met with limited success – no one applied for the doctor job in Walls which will be readvertised along with a part-time GP post in Brae.

The board heard that adding another consultant psychiatrist would bring the consultant roster up to three, plus a specialist mental health doctor.

It should also reduce the cost of providing locum cover, which was identified as £625,000 for a full year. The cost of a psychiatric consultant is put at £166,000.

“A lot of the projected overspend is caused by this”

The board heard that advertising for the post could go ahead in November and that the extra psychiatrist could be in place by the new financial year.

Chairman Gary Robinson, who helmed his first meeting after he took over from Ian Kinniburgh, said that recruiting was a shortterm cost to make a longterm saving.

He said: “Given the amount we spend every year on locums in total, a lot of the projected overspend is caused by this.”

The board considered a report that says there is “continuing fragility” within the psychiatric team and the demand on psychiatrists “very high for a small population”.

The board also revisited the difficulties of recruiting GPs to the isles. Lerwick Health Centre will be fully staffed by the end of August and Scalloway is short of one GP.