German GPs are flown in to solve staff crisis

Five German doctors had to be flown in to Britain to cope with a GP staffing crisis.

They were brought in over the first weekend of a new contract agreement under which Norfolk GPs can decide not to work outside office hours.

Despite wages of up to £80 an hour being offered, Anglian Medical Care (AMC), an agency supplying GPs, was unable to attract enough doctors from around East Anglia to fill all of the shifts. After scouring Norfolk, Suffolk, Lincolnshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Essex, AMC eventually hired the services of medical recruitment company Medworld.

Medworld was in turn forced to fly in the doctors from Germany to take on 29 of the 129 shifts over the weekend in north and north-west Norfolk.

North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb described the situation as "daft and extraordinary".

"This demonstrates rather powerfully the shortage of health professionals we have in this country," he said.

As well as the five who were flown in, six other German doctors worked shifts in Norfolk at the weekend. The six were already living and working in Britain. Matthew Ware, spokesman for the East Anglian Ambulance Trust, which runs AMC, said: " Depending on how many hours the doctors worked, they would earn between £1,000 and £2,500 for their weekend's work.

"The flights from Germany were only ?12 so it was worth their while coming over. The flight was not paid for by AMC."