A locum obstetrician at the baby unit at Caithness General could set them back as much as £12,000 per week, it has emerged.

The North Highland Community Health Partnership (NHCHP) is committed to providing the temporary cover though it has warned other services could suffer as a result.

The vacancy is looming after one of the three consultants, Dr Ahmed Mohamed, has just started working three months' notice.

While moves are under way to find a permanent replacement, it is unlikely some period of locum cover will not be required.

Speaking at an NHCHP committee meeting on Tuesday, finance head Ross MacKenzie gave notice of the financial consequences.

He said: "A locum could cost about £12,000 a week, including an on-call service."

Mr Mackenzie later explained it would be significantly cheaper if the health authority put a locum on a temporary contract on NHS terms. If, however, it had to go to an agency and the individual was included on an out-of-hours rota, an hourly rate for a 24-hour period would be charged.

General manager Sheena Craig pledged that the round-the-clock consultant service would continue.

She said: "If we can't recruit and don't employ a locum at that cost, then we simply can't sustain the existing service with just two consultants.

"The cost implications of hiring a locum would contribute to our overspend and mean the burden having to be borne by other services."

Earlier the committee heard that the nine-bed unit should soon be operating normally.

Since April, all mothers-to-be scheduled to have inductions have been referred to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, which has specialist neonatal facilities. Previously, those deemed at low risk were able to give birth in Wick.

The suspension of the service was initially triggered by the number of midwives on sick leave and then as result of a risk management review.

Mrs Craig said she is confident that staff at the unit have met the standards needed to allow low-risk inductions to be reinstated.

She said a final decision is due towards the end of the month or early next month.

Local Highland councillor David Flear said: "If you have met the standard, I'm pleased about that and I'm sure it will give comfort to mums who want to give birth in Caithness General."

The suspension of inductions has led to an average of about one extra transfer to Raigmore per week.

Meanwhile, NHS managers are relying on temporary cover to maintain their complement of junior doctors at Caithness General.

Since August, it has been unable to fill three of the nine permanent posts.

As a result, it has been using a combination of locum junior doctors, GPs and agency doctors to provide a round-the-clock service to the medical and surgical wards.

Mrs Craig said the national shortage of junior hospital doctors exacerbates difficulties in recruiting them to work in outlying areas like Caithness.

Management has made it clear that priority will be given to emergency and priority categories such as cancer patients and that elective cases could be affected.

Mrs Craig sad: "Presently, the service is reasonably stable but filling vacancies with locum staff comes at a cost and increases the financial pressures on us."

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