£10,000 golden hello for doctors

All new family doctors across the country will automatically get a £5,000 incentive, but the shortage in Sussex is so dire that most new GPs in the county will get an additional £5,000.

Health Minister John Hutton said the extra cash was recognition the area was "under-doctored".

The areas where new GPs will get £10,000 include Brighton and Hove, Adur and Arun.

Also singled out for extra help are Bexhill and Rother, Chichester, Crawley, Eastbourne Downs, Bognor, Hastings and St Leonards.

Morale among GPs in Sussex is at an all-time low because of increased workloads, poor pay and increasing paperwork.

In August we reported how more than 1,500 patients were dropped from the Bognor Medical Practice because of a shortage of GPs.

Three doctors have recently resigned from the town centre practice and none has been replaced.

The high cost of living in the South-East is among the causes of Sussex's recruitment problems.

Large areas of both East and West Sussex have a large elderly population, requiring frequent home visits and more regular care.

Doctors in some areas of Brighton and Hove have to deal with problems such as homelessness, drugs and a high number of teenage pregnancies.

Martin Campbell, of Brighton and Hove Primary Care Group, said the city was currently short of 11 doctors.

He said: "Anything that can be used to help reduce the workload of GPs here is to be welcomed."

Lewes GP Michael Edwards said: "A lot of people are going straight from training to private medicine, so this may encourage them to join the NHS instead."

Eastbourne GP James Forester said: "This is good news if it encourages more people to take up family practices and so cut the workload for other doctors.

"But it is not just a matter of throwing money at the problem.

"Existing GPs should also be helped with better pay and conditions to make sure they stay, otherwise you will have just as many people leaving as are coming in."