Consultant Surgeon (with Rural Fellowship)

Consultant General Surgeon NHS Shetland, with possible preceding Rural Surgical Fellowship in Aberdeen.

We are looking for a Consultant General Surgeon for the Gilbert Bain Hospital, Lerwick (NHS Shetland).

We will be interviewing jointly with the deanery (NHS Education for Scotland) and with 2 other Rural General Hospitals (NHS Highland’s Belford Hospital in Fort William and NHS Western Isles’ Hospital in Stornoway) who are simultaneously advertising similar posts.

The combined panel will be able to appoint any eligible candidates to any one of the Consultant posts they have applied for, and will have the additional option of appointing to a preceding Rural Surgical Fellowship if it seems necessary for bridging a skills gap.

NHS Shetland are looking for a General Surgeon to join a team of four surgeons providing a wide range of surgical services to a thriving population of 23,000 on the most northerly inhabited islands in the UK. This post provides opportunity to expand your skills across a number of surgical subspecialties and provide urgent and emergency cover for all surgical specialties presenting to our 52 bed Rural General Hospital in Shetland.

Rise to the challenge and enjoy the opportunity - Shetland is a wonderful place to live and work, with low pollution, low crime, excellent schools, great leisure facilities, unique wildlife and amazing scenery, whilst still only a short flight away from the UK mainland.  To find out more about Shetland go to www.shetland.org or about NHS Shetland at www.shb.scot.nhs.uk

A team of four surgeons allows an annualized contract with 10 weeks a year spent outside Shetland for study leave or surgical humanitarian work in LMIC’s.

The Rural Surgical Fellowship, if required, could be based in Aberdeen, Inverness or Glasgow, for 0.5 to 2 years, before taking up the consultant post, which can be held for the appointed candidate. Since it is supernumerary it can be made bespoke to individual training needs, in agreement with future colleagues.

We are looking for motivated individuals and welcome applicants at any career stage. If you are excited by the challenges of rural general and the opportunity to help develop new systems to improve the experience and outcomes for rural populations, then we would love to speak with you. We are open to working flexibly with the right candidates and can offer full-time, part-time or annualised hours contracts.

Pre-interview visits or calls are encouraged. Informal enquiries may be directed to

• Mr Gordon McFarlane, Consultant Surgeon, Shetland at gordon.mcfarlane@nhs.scot
• Melanie Clarke, Associate Postgraduate Dean, NHS Education for Scotland at melanie.clarke@nhs.scot (regarding the Fellowship component)

Rise to the challenge and enjoy the opportunity - Shetland is a wonderful place to live and work.  Shetland offers low pollution, low crime, excellent schools, great leisure facilities, unique wildlife and amazing scenery, whilst still only a short flight away from the UK mainland.  To find out more about living and working in Shetland go to www.shetland.org and learn more about NHS Shetland at www.shb.scot.nhs.uk

Closing Date: 2^nd April 2023

Interview Date: 26^th April 2023​​​​​​​

In promoting equal opportunities, we welcome applications from all sections of the community.