A health board seeking to fill medical vacancies by advertising in the Netherlands says it is hopeful its 'going Dutch' gamble will pay off, with half a dozen doctors already interested.

NHS Highland thought scheduled direct flights between Inverness and Amsterdam would make working in the Highlands an attractive proposition to Dutch doctors. So it took the unusual step of placing an advertisement in a Dutch newspaper in the hope of attracting medics.

The board has long had a problem filling some vacancies.

It says it has been "pleasantly surprised" at the response, with no fewer than six medics having expressed an interest so far. When it placed the advert earlier this month the board said it would be delighted if the initiative yielded just one positive response.

John Huband, the board's head of employment services, said: "We generally advertise vacancies through more conventional channels, such as the British Medical Journal and online, but our success rate is such that we thought we should try something different.

"We're glad we did. So far, we have had six responses, and I'm looking forward to being able to announce sometime soon that we have actually appointed someone.

"We've had an excellent response from a GP with experience in remote and rural work - just the sort of person we're looking for. We've also sent a job pack and application form to a consultant paediatrician who's interested, and we're in communication with an anaesthetist who has asked about doing locum work with us. We had an enquiry from someone in orthopaedics, someone who had previously applied for a job with us, and from a plastic surgeon who we've referred to another board, as we do not do plastic surgery in NHS Highland.

"All in all, it's been a worthwhile exercise, and we've been pleasantly surprised at the response."

NHS Highland's advert, which was published in English in the Dutch publication NRC Handelsblad, listed vacancies in a range of specialities: oncology, radiology, rheumatology, anaesthetics, neurology, ophthalmology, urology, paediatrics, psychiatry, general surgery, oral & maxillofacial surgery, trauma & orthopaedics, obstetrics & gynaecology, and general practice.

The board's advert pointed out that NHS Highland provides health and social care in one of the most beautiful parts of the UK.

"But there's more to our area than stunning scenery," it read. "There's a quality and pace of life that cannot be beaten ... and there are some fantastic career opportunities for clinicians."

There already is a major campaign with a dedicated website to recruit GPs to work in some of its more remote and rural communities with current vacancies, in Mull, Skye, Caithness, Lochaber and Argyll.