A Scottish doctor made a four-day round trip by air, land and sea - to cover a morning shift at a surgery on a neighbouring island.Dr Jan Brooks, who lives on Colonsay in the Hebrides, was asked to provide cover for three-and-a-half hours on Jura.The islands have an hour-long ferry link in summer, but not in winter so she had to go the long way round.
Dr Brooks' journey included return flights from Colonsay to Oban on the mainland, a 110-mile trip trip by car to catch a ferry to Islay and a further 70 miles by road and car ferry between Islay and Jura.She had been asked at short notice to fill a half day gap between one locum leaving and the arrival of a replacement.Argyll SNP MSP Michael Russell described the situation as "totally daft".NHS Highland said it had been made aware of the gap in advance and had asked another GP to cover.
A spokesman said: "However, this GP was at very short notice unable to provide that cover due to circumstances beyond their control and we had to find a replacement and this we did."Our priority was our patients on Jura and our staff pulled out all the stops to find a GP at short notice and we would like to thank the GP in question for their help."
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