By Hayley Robinson

hrobinson@thekmgroup.co.uk

An investigation has revealed that NHS Medway spent £12,000 on flying in two foreign GPs to provide out of hours cover.

It is one of more than 50 primary care trusts across the country to have paid for a overseas GPs to commute to the UK to cover the service.

The figures were revealed following an investigation by the Daily Mail which showed more than a third of the 152 primary care trusts (PCTs) in England have flown in foreign GPs in the last year. Out of the 146 trusts who responded, 51 have used overseas GPs in the last 12 months.

NHS Medway says the money was spent during the financial year 2008 to 2009 and that it has not spent any money this financial year on flying GPs in from abroad.

A spokesman for NHS Medway said: "The vast majority of doctors practising in Medway live and work in their local community, act as a regular point of contact for their patients when they have health issues, and provide an out of hours service on a rota basis.

"Very occasionally, we need additional out of hours GP support at times of very high demand and these GPs come from other areas.

"In Medway this year, no foreign doctors have commuted from abroad to provide out of hours cover.

"All doctors, regardless of origin, are subject to full employment and security checks and undergo regular clinical audit to ensure that they are suitable to fulfill the requirements of the job."

The Royal College of GPs is calling for a ‘radical review’ of out-of-hours care so that the NHS no longer has to rely on help from abroad.

Professor Steve Field, chairman of the RCGP, said: " I am particularly worried about the use of doctors from Europe flying in to provide out of hours care and then flying back to their home countries to provide services there.

"Doctors from Europe who come to the UK to work in out of hours services must prove they are of the same quality as our home-grown doctors. We are not convinced there are appropriate checks in place to ensure they are.

"All UK trained doctors now have to reach the standard set by the RCGP by passing our examination, which includes spending time in a training practice. European doctors don’t necessarily have such rigorous assessments or experience of working in UK practices."