NHS Highland’s radical decision to go Dutch in its search for new staff was hailed a success last night.
The health board is poised to fill key roles thanks to a recruitment drive in Holland.
Six doctors from the Netherlands have expressed an interest in moving to Scotland and several could soon be working in the north.
Application forms have now been sent to the medics, who include a GP, a paediatrician and an anaesthetist.
A plastic surgeon also responded to the advert and has been referred to the health board in Lothian as NHS Highland does not carry out that type of treatment.
Last night, MSP Rhoda Grant said she was pleased the overseas search had paid dividends.
She said: “Given I have heard that some adverts attract no applicants, getting six people from one advert is good.
“It shows that if you think outside the box, you can sometimes get success.”
She added that she hoped the air links with Amsterdam would mean Dutch medics would view the Highlands as an attractive place to live and work.
NHS Highland spent £7,000 on advertising in the Netherlands earlier this month to try to fill a range of specialist roles.
There are about 30 consultant vacancies throughout the NHS Highland area, which has 23 hospitals.
Holland was chosen because of the direct flights between Inverness and Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, which means that Dutch medics would find it easy to retain family links in their homeland.
John Huband, the board’s head of employment services, said: “We generally advertise vacancies through more conventional channels, such as the British Medical Journal and online, but our success rate is such that we thought we should try something different.
“We’re glad we did. So far, we have had six responses, and I’m looking forward to being able to announce sometime soon that we have actually appointed someone.
“We’ve had an excellent response from a GP with experience in remote and rural work – just the sort of person we’re looking for.
“We’ve also sent a job pack and application form to a consultant paediatrician who’s interested, and we’re in communication with an anaesthetist who has asked about doing locum work with us.
“We had an inquiry from someone in orthopaedics, someone who had previously applied for a job with us, and from a plastic surgeon who we’ve referred to another board, as we do not do plastic surgery in NHS Highland.
“All in all, it’s been a worthwhile exercise, and we’ve been pleasantly surprised at the response.”
NHS Highland’s advert in the Dutch publication NRC Handelsblad listed vacancies in about a dozen specialities, including oncology, radiology, rheumatology, anaesthetics and neurology, paediatrics and trauma and orthopaedics.
The health board has also mounted a major campaign to recruit GPs for remote and rural areas.
Elaine Mead, NHS Highland’s chief executive, said: “We are confident that there must be many GPs, either newly qualified or experienced, who would relish the lifestyle and career opportunities working in some of our more remote areas would provide.”
The recruitment efforts are supported by the Scottish Government through the Being Here programme, with £1.5million having been granted to the health board to devise and test innovative ways of recruiting healthcare professionals, and particularly GPs.