IF you could find them, you could hire them - but it tended not to be medical problems the A-Team tried to fix.

 

Now, B.A Baracus and his fellow fugitives from the hit 1980s TV show, have been re-incarnated in the search to find another potentially elusive figure - a replacement GP for a Scottish island health service.

In a whacky alternative job advert, the staff at Arran Medical Group have remade the opening credits of the A-Team taking on the different starring roles themselves - although GP registrar Dr Andrew Gaw brandishes a pen rather than John "Hannibal" Smith's familiar cigar.

The voiceover ­- describing a "crack GP team" surviving as "rural GPs"- may be somewhat less dramatic than the original, but the music is authentic. When the doctors sought permission to use the blasting A-Team theme, SilvaScreen Records (UK) agreed without charging royalties.

Dr David Hogg, who has been with the practice for five years, said: "It is almost sad the detail we went to, but we absolutely had fun making it."

With growing concerns about shortages of GPs, and difficulties attracting doctors to the more isolated parts of Scotland in the past, the Arran Medical Group wanted their job advert to stand out.

Three years ago they successfully adapted the opening sequence to James Bond films to recruit a replacement doctor.

Dr Hogg said: "We have always been aware of the challenges of recruiting. By maximising our coverage we have always managed to find a good GP to join the team."

Like the A-Team show, the job advert posted on video sharing website Vimeo, opens showing a helicopter - the red and grey Sea King search and rescue helicopter which operates in the area.

A red car with a flashing light and an off-road vehicle follow, with Dr Angus Campbell, shown nonchalantly checking behind him before exiting his LandRover. Dr Greg Hamill plays the character known as "Face," winking from under a cowboy hat, and Dr Graeme Thompson appears as the unconventional Murdock with a crocodile glove puppet.

In the closing sequence Dr Liz Guthrie, wearing rather more jewellery than usual, bursts in through an exit door and lifts her fist like Mr T who played B.A Baracus in the series.

Dr Hogg reflects that there are a lot of different personalities in Arran Medical Group, which was formed from three separate practices in 2012, but that they work together with other services on the island to meet people's needs. Even the local drama society helped provide props for the advert.

Dr Hogg said: "On the more serious side rural practice is increasingly challenging and increasingly the view is that it is better delivered by a close working team."

There have already been some expressions of interest following the advert, which reached thousands of people via social media sites within two days. The closing date for applications is Monday July 20.

Even in more urban areas some surgeries have struggled to fill GP vacancies. Earlier this year a survey of 463 practices by the British Medical Association Scotland found 17 per cent had at least one empty post. Finding junior doctors to train as GPs is also growing more difficult, with a fifth of training jobs unfilled by national recruitment this summer.

Dr Hogg said: "We believe the right person is out there, they just have to make the move of coming to Arran to see what we have to offer. As soon as someone comes over their perspective changes. There are a lot of good bits of what we do that mirror so-called old fashioned medicine, but we actually offer a very modern primary care service because of the way we work together."

GPs on the island cover the community hospital, provide emergency medical support, some special clinics and typical surgery services.

Join the AMG Team from David Hogg on Vimeo.