Tiny island offers £150k to work in one of Scotland’s ‘most idyllic locations’

A TINY island is offering wages of £150,000 to work in one of the “most beautiful and idyllic locations” in Scotland.

The remote location is home to spectacular, white sand beaches and turquoise waters.

And a rare employment opportunity is now on offer allowing suitable candidates to make the breathtaking surroundings their new home.

The whopping salary from NHS Western Isles aims to attract doctors to one of the UK’s most remote GP practices.

The job would be based at Benbecula Medical Practice and serve the Hebridean islands of Uist and Benbecula.

The health board is offering up a 40 per cent “enhanced rate” above a typical salary in order to attract more rural GPs.

And said a big incentive was the opportunity to work in one of the UK’s “most beautiful and idyllic locations”.

Successful applicants paid the highest salary will receive more than £147,500 a year.

They will also get relocation expenses to help move to the islands and a “golden hello” payment of up to £10,000.

Gordon Jamieson, chief executive of NHS Western Isles, told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland: “It’s got to to be a certain type of person who wants that job and responsibility.

“So obviously we want to reward them. It’s not everybody’s cup of tea.

“But there are people out there from all over the world who are looking for an experience like this in remote healthcare.”

Mr Jamieson said the health board faced a number of challenges over rural recruitment as consultants, GPs and nurses are under pressure.

But he believes the salary will make candidates want to “live and work and stay here”.

It comes as the Isle of Rum is seeking a new head teacher for the island’s five primary school pupils and two nursery children.

Rum Primary School has a student roll of five pupils ranging from ages five to 11, and the nursery has two students aged three and four.

It is looking for a full-time head teacher with the contract offering a permanent post, with an annual salary of £61,839.

There are also entitlements to High Remote Allowance of £3,237 per year, as well as Distant Island Allowance of £2,541 per year.

Rum is one of the Small Isles in the Inner Hebrides, lying an hour and a half’s ferry trip away from the nearest mainland port in Mallaig.

The island is inhabited by more than 1,000 red deer, vastly outnumbering the 40 residents in Kinloch village – Rum’s only populated settlement.

Ferries only run four times-a-week in winter, and it has only one community shop.