PCT denies placing adverts for temp doctors (From Bicester Advertiser)

PCT denies placing adverts for temp doctors

9:30am Tuesday 4th December 2012 in News

OXFORDSHIRE’s primary care trust has denied it has anything to do with adverts offering £1,200 a day for temporary doctors.

The locum positions were advertised online by Merco, a medical recruitment company that advertises for GPs on behalf of NHS and independent care providers.

But last night NHS Oxfordshire said it was not behind the advert, and Merco declined to comment.

According to the job advertisement, which has now been taken down, the job is aimed at doctors who are “newly qualified, recently retired or simply looking for extra work”.

It offers them “ad-hoc or regular sessions” in a “variety of primary care services in and around Oxford” as well as regular sessions every week from now until the New Year.

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, which is commissioned by the PCT to provide out-of-hours GPs, did not comment last night.

But county councillor Peter Skolar, a former GP, said there was a shortage of doctors. Mr Skolar, now chairman of the Oxfordshire joint health overview and scrutiny committee, said: “There are simply not enough trained GPs.

“To get the staff we have to pay what we have to pay and with one-off payments to locum doctors it is always going to be more expensive.”