'Desperate' Cornish town of Lostwithiel sings for new GP

A town in Cornwall has recorded a song and made a video to attract new doctors to the area in an "increasingly desperate" attempt to replace a GP due to retire within weeks.

Organisers said Lostwithiel surgery had been struggling to find GPs, with one surgery partner due to leave.

The song comes after people formed a flash mob earlier this month in their recruitment bid.

Organisers said the latest move was a "loving call" .

Lostwithiel Medical Practice has two partners and is responsible for about 5,500 patients in the area.

It was rated "outstanding" by the Care Quality Commission in 2018, with a review earlier this month finding no evidence for the rating to be reassessed.

One partner is to retire at the end of March.

Orgnanisers said the song, Lostwithiel Needs A Doctor, was "an innovative, yet increasingly desperate, attempt to replace a much-loved retiring GP within two weeks".

They added it was a "loving call from a loving community to loving doctors".

Dr Justin Hendriksz, soon to be the remaining practice partner, said the practice had "struggled to recruit new GPs through the usual route of adverts in all of the relevant medical publications".

He said: "We're all very aware of the alarming number of GPs leaving the sector, so we know we're not the only practice to be finding it such a challenge to find the right incoming doctors.

"We're very proud of our historical work and service to our local Lostwithiel community, and we really need to find our medical successors to take on our mission of treating patients with the 'right person, in the right place, at the right time'."

He said the "whole community has got behind this [recruitment] idea".

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