‘Rural and remote’ recognition for Caithness General Hospital doctors
Two physicians working at Caithness General Hospital have been recognised in a credential award scheme for healthcare professionals in rural communities.
Neil Shepherd and Charlie Siderfin are among four doctors in NHS Highland to have received the first awards of the Credential in Rural and Remote Health (Unscheduled and Urgent Care), approved by the General Medical Council (GMC).
The health board described it as “a significant step for healthcare in rural and remote areas”.
There are only seven UK recipients of the credential, with six of the doctors practising in Scotland and the other in England.
Dr Shepherd and Dr Siderfin both work as rural emergency physicians.
Professor Emma Watson, medical director at NHS Education for Scotland (NES), said: “We’re absolutely delighted and the doctors themselves are extremely happy with this recognition.
“It is the first of the three GMC-approved credentials in the UK to make awards. Its impact on the rural workforce and the sustainability of healthcare delivery in rural communities in Scotland is significant.
“We look forward to more applications from doctors interested in credentialing.”
The GMC-approved credential not only acknowledges the doctors’ exceptional expertise in looking after people requiring unscheduled and urgent care, it also highlights their commitment to improving patient outcomes in “rural and remote” communities.
Dr Pauline Wilson, associate postgraduate dean at NES, congratulated the doctors and said: “Their expertise, dedication and service to rural and remote communities is truly inspiring.”
Dr Shepherd said: “I currently work as a rural emergency physician in Caithness General Hospital, as a locum GP in Orkney and as the training programme director for broad-based training in Scotland.
“I completed GP training in 2014 and a remote and rural acute care GP fellowship in 2018 and was elected as a fellow of Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 2023.
“I was aware that in my role in Caithness General I was operating outside of the CCT [certificate of completion of training] I hold. The credential enables generalist rural acute care skills to be formally recognised.
“In the longer term I believe the credential will allow us to structure the educational programmes in rural hospitals to train the next generation of rural generalists.”
Dr Siderfin’s career has revolved around delivering healthcare scattered communities both as a GP and hospital doctor.
He worked in Antarctica for 18 months as a medical officer for the British Antarctic Survey before undertaking his GP training programme in the north of Scotland. With a young family, he and his wife then moved for a year to a busy rural hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where he developed procedural skills across medicine, surgery, paediatrics and obstetrics.
They then moved to Western Australia for two years. Dr Siderfin worked as a single-handed GP with additional medical responsibility for a 16-bedded hospital and emergency department.
During his 22 years working in Orkney, he carried out various roles. For 14 years he headed the development of the Balfour Hospital GP-led acute medical team which had remote consultant support from Aberdeen, created a hospital GP specialty training programme and worked with others to establish the Acute Care GP Rural Fellowship.
He created the Orkney Isles Network of Care to support recruitment of GPs and advanced nurse practitioners to single-handed practices on the outer islands and established a new general practice in Kirkwall. He spent seven years working as a single-handed GP on Westray for three weeks out of every nine, alongside his role as NHS Orkney lead GP.
Since April 2022 he has worked as a rural emergency physician in the emergency department of Caithness General Hospital, working two weeks in Wick and having two weeks at home in Orkney.
He said: “Providing emergency and inpatient services in rural hospitals requires a broad range of knowledge and skills, alongside the ability to tolerate uncertainty and work with a high degree of clinical exposure. Hospital jobs have traditionally been the remit of consultants, although GPs have always delivered aspects of care in rural hospitals.”
Dr Siderfin says he has found the credential curriculum helpful for reviewing his ongoing learning needs and to help structure training for a new generation of doctors.
