Health centre short on GPs after two locums cancel visits from mainland

Lerwick Health Centre. 

Patients are being urged to only contact a health centre about urgent matters amid a further shortage of GPs.

Lerwick GP Practice said today (Wednesday) the shortage was due to two locums cancelling their trips to Shetland.

Posting on Facebook, the practice said: “We are working hard to try to arrange further locum cover but unfortunately in the short term we will be two GPs down.

“We would like to ask you that if your enquiry is of a non-urgent nature that you check the NHS Inform website as a first resort before contacting the practice.

The health centre said it would prioritise urgent patient requests but warned it may take a “few extra days” to respond to those that are non-urgent. 

The shortage is the latest in staffing issues, which saw an appeal this summer for patients to think carefully about where they sought help.