Hoy and Walls Living and Working As a GP Welcome
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Hoy and Walls living and working as a GP Welcome We are delighted that you are considering applying for a post on Hoy. The likelihood IN THIS BOOKLET is that you are already strongly attracted • WORKING AS A GP ON HOY by the prospect of working in a beautiful • HOY & WALLS? and unique area of Scotland, You probably • ISLAND INDUSTRIES also relish the prospect of working in a • SCHOOLS situation that offers time to ’do the job • ISLAND LIVING properly’. • ENVIRONMENT This leaflet has been prepared with the • PRACTICALITIES intention of providing more detailed infor- • ISLAND CONNECTIONS mation about our particular island, and about some of the attractions and realities of living and working here. Included in our leaflet you will find infor- mation about aspects of life on Hoy, in- cluding what we see as the significant strengths of our community, and the asso- ciated benefits for ourselves and our fami- lies. Our community and practice websites complement the material in this leaflet and are well worth a visit. Be sure to catch the most recent copy of The Blether. If you have children of school age, you will be pleased to know that the schools in Orkney are excellent. Do take a look at our island school‘s website, and the websites of Stromness Academy and Kirkwall Grammar School Welcome Finally, the Hoy Trust website is also worth a look for anyone interested in local natural and social history. WEBSITES www.hoydoc.co.uk www.hoyorkney.com www.hoyheritage.wordpress.com www.rspb.co.uk (Hoy pages) www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/hoy www.visitscotland.com It is very important for us to recruit skilled and committed practitioners who feel enthusiastic at www.loganair.co.uk the prospect of bringing their professional skills www.orkneyferries.co.uk to this small, vibrant island community. www.pentlandferries.co.uk We hope that you might be such a person and www.northlinkferries.co.uk that what you read about Hoy & Walls in this leaflet will reinforce your interest. Working as a GP on Hoy The surgery is in a purpose-built Health Centre in Longhope. This has a consulting room, a treatment room, a nurse’s consulting room/office, a reception/admin area, a dispensary and office mainly used for video-conferencing. The building also contains some rooms once used by social services but currently awaiting a purpose. NHS Orkney provides self-catering accommodation for use by visiting doctors. However, GPs usually purchase properties on the island once they become established. So what’s the work like? The pathology is pretty much the same as anywhere else in Scotland. But the organisa- tion is different. Fifteen minute appointments are our minimum.. We try to deal with everything at one sitting—reducing the bewildering array of repeat visits that have become the norm elsewhere. After a short time, you can put a name to most patients’ faces and be familiar with their past and current medical situations, which is rewarding for doctor and patient alike. You’ll do more home visits than usual because we have an elderly population and mini- mal public transport. But there are no queues, traffic jams or parking problems and the scenery is wonderful. The need for 24/7 cover restricts you to the island, and means no long walks in the hills. But there’s still plenty to do, and plenty of time in which to do it—patients rarely call unless they really do need a doctor. You do all the emergency care. Major trauma is uncommon but if you are called your other patients will understand if you are busy for a few hours. Minor trauma is more usual—farming, fishing and building being the main culprits. In fact you do pretty much everything—proper general practice! The professional isolation that island GPs traditionally endured has been largely banished by the internet. We have excellent video-conferencing facilities and ’meet’ with the other island practices weekly. We share stories, expertise and ideas as the Isles Network of Care. Our team of one 24/7 GP, one full-time nurse and one part-time ad- ministrator and her relief, is close knit, capable and mutually suppor- tive. As a relief GP you’ll provide important continuity of care and will be involved in all the clinical work—and as much of the bureaucracy and paperwork as you would like. You will also be involved in medical student teaching and in audit, ...proper both important elements of appraisal and revalidation. general practice! The pay is above average for a GP nationally and reflects the on call commitment. The paid study leave allowance is excellent value and allows attendance at courses on the mainland and South. It’s significant that most GPs who have come to the island have chosen to remain after retiring. You do become quickly enmeshed in the life of the island and the lives of your patients. After all, you are not caring for your patients but for your fellow islanders, and after a while, for your friends. The relief GP can live elsewhere and visit, or live here and use Hoy as the base for a portfolio career. The island is a safe and civilised place to live and work, and a wonderful place to bring up children. Working as a GP on Hoy A key element in the working environment is the support given by fellow practitio- ners on neighbouring islands at weekly video conference sessions which routinely involve discussion of admissions and emergencies, shared clinical guidelines, organisa- tional issues, etc. The success of this collaboration led to the decision to join six is- land surgeries into one virtual practice. So, since 2015, we have been a branch of Orcades Practice. The sheer variety of the work is refreshing and stimulating. Chronic disease, mental health problems and social problems are as prevalent as anywhere but are often met with a stoic practicality unusual in modern Britain. You have the opportunity to take your involvement in care further than in mainland practice. Sometimes because resources are fewer and distances greater but often sim- ply because sick patients want to stay on the island. Access to basic investigations is good, but more rarefied imaging will involve a 300km round trip, 2 ferries, 2 flights and a night away from home. Repeat prescriptions are dispensed in town and shipped across for us to deliver. But we hold a good stock of drugs for immediate use and emergencies. You are not alone! Our nurse is both practice nurse and district nurse and sees patients wherever it is best. Between us we keep an eye on patients when they are well, not just after they become ill. Volunteers man our ambulance and will transport patients to the mainland on the ferry or to our helicopter landing ground. Everyone of working age has more than one job, sometimes three or four. So don’t be too surprised if, once in a while, you find yourself acting as policeman, undertaker or vet. And on Hoy, uniquely among the islands, there is the lifeboat. It is it’s unusual not to go home for lunch difficult to overstate how important the Longhope Lifeboat is to the com- munity. She lies literally and metaphorically at the centre of the village. For the great majority of the shouts a doctor is not required, but if called, you go. Hoy residents seem to appreciate their good fortune in receiving the kind of close, personal attention that we can offer. But they don’t abuse the system. They look after doctor & nurse just as much as the doctor & nurse look after them. Coupled with the courtesy and common sense that are the norm, this means that the out-of-hours work is infrequent. But when called, it’s usu- ally important. We advise against using NHS 24 as it simply wastes time. There’s time for patients and time too for teaching. We are an under- graduate teaching practice for Dundee University and take their final year students for 4 week attachments. time for excellence The practice is generally well equipped and includes:- Two 4-wheel drive vehicles, essential for carrying emergency equipment and dealing with farm tracks. Bleeps and mobile phones for doctor and nurse. The current IT system is Vision Widescreen video conferencing, for education, for discussions and meetings and for remote consultation with specialist services. Emergency equipment to the Sandpiper / BASICS standard and beyond, suitable for dealing with major injury. ECG, Spirometer, INR machine, defibrillators. SAS ambulance used about twice a month for patient transport. Equipped with stretchers, splints, vacuum mattress etc Hoy and Walls? According to the maps we live on Hoy. But Hoy is the big, high island, with the parish of Hoy at its north end forming a distinct community that has greater historic links with Graemsay and Stromness than with Longhope to the south. The MV Graemsay runs back and forth from Stromness several times a day, maintaining this connection and bringing thousands of walkers in the summer. Along the longest uninhabited stretch of road in Orkney lies Hoy’s southern parish, North Walls, hence our North Walls Community School. This parish also contains our ro-ro port Lyness, from where MV Hoy Head links us to Flotta and the mainland. Most southerly of all is South Walls. This is another island joined by a causeway (and at high tide in a south-easterly gale is effectively separate). It looks much like the rest of Orkney, low, green and fertile and very different from Hoy. Most of the population lives in South Walls, and most of it in the village of Longhope.