A Scottish NHS trust is being forced to fly doctors in from abroad to cover shifts, The Scotsman reported yesterday.

NHS Highland had to call in a German medic to work in Inverness last weekend, while a doctor from Malta filled three shifts in its out-of-hours service last month.

During 2006-2007, NHS Highland’s out-of-hours service spent £222,607 on agency locums, who are used when no local doctors are willing or available to go on call. They accounted for up to 10 per cent of shifts.

Mary Scanlon, the Highland MSP, said: “Doctors flown in from Germany and Malta, excellent medics though they may be, cannot be knowledgeable of NHS Highland protocol and procedures.” A spokeswoman for NHS Highland said they did not know where locum doctors had come from when they requested them.

She added: “We don’t pay any more for a Maltese doctor than one driving in from Elgin.”