Nurse wanted on remote island with just 50 residents

By Martyn McLaughlin

A nurse is wanted to work on the UK's most remote inhabited island, with perks which include a car and $10,000 relocation payment.

Fair Isle, the tiny island which lies halfway between the Shetland and Orkney mainlands, in Scotland, has just 50 residents.

The new nurse will be tasked with providing a full-time nursing service for the island’s resident population, as well as visiting tourists.

The position is advertised with a salary range of between $56,156 and $68,431, although that package will be bolstered by additional payments due to Fair Isle’s remote location.

The successful applicant, who will be expected to provide personal care in the absence of any social care provision on the island, will be entitled to a distant island allowance worth $3,349 per year, while up to $10,000 is on offer to help them relocate.

A car will be provided and a two-bedroom traditional stone-built house will also be available for the postholder to rent.

One resident, Eileen Thomson, grew up on Fair Isle, and moved back to the island from Edinburgh with her young family eight years ago.

She described the vacancy as being unlike any other nursing role.

“On Fair Isle, you get to be so much more of a nurse than you would anywhere else,” she said.

“On the mainland, you might see a patient for five minutes, and not see them again for months, or even ever.

"But here, the nurse gets to really look after people.

"You get that continuity of care living and working alongside people, and you get that chance to look after your flock - it’s a wonderful opportunity for someone.”

A key quality to living and working on the island, she said, was being able to throw yourself into its “vibrant” community.

“We need people who are going to work hard and get on,” she said.

“If anyone wants solitude and isolation, they’re better off living in a city.

"On Fair Isle, we need people to chip in, who can help out, and who want to be sociable, because that’s how we all thrive.”

The island, owned by the National Trust for Scotland since 1954, has had a resident nurse since 1903.

Until then, those on Fair Isle had to rely on a community medicine chest.

NHS Shetland, which is spearheading the recruitment drive for the latest incumbent, said the district nurse/nurse practitioner role offers an opportunity to be part of an island with a “truly welcoming atmosphere” and a “resilient community".

“Fair Isle is a wonderful place to live and work, offering low pollution, low crime, excellent schools, great leisure facilities, unique wildlife and amazing scenery, whilst still only a short flight away from the UK mainland,” it said.

Earlier this year, the island - which measures just three miles long by one-and-a-half miles wide - welcomed a new teacher for its primary school.

In June, a $5.6 million contract was awarded to a Yorkshire firm to build a new roll-on, roll-off ferry for Fair Isle, expected to come into service next year.