GEORGE Orwell famously described Jura as "an extremely un-get-at-able place", but the islanders hope that opinion is not going to put off any doctor seeking a unique professional challenge.

The community, which has been served by a series of locum doctors for over a year, has launched a search to find a GP for the island's practice, which has just under 200 patients.

The islanders, who are known as Diùrachs, joined together to publicise the vacancy online and a series of adverts are being posted at facebook.com/perfectpracticejura to help spread the word about their search.

Local businesses, including the world-famous Isle of Jura distillery, are supporting the search for the doctor.

The Jura passenger ferry and Jura Hotel are offering discounts to prospective candidates who may want to check out the island.

Meanwhile, Jura distillery is offering a premium bottle of whisky as a finder's fee for the person who manages to locate the perfect candidate for the post.

The surgery is in Craighouse, the largest village on the 27-mile-long island, and the post comes complete with a house and sea views.

Jura Community Chairman Willie MacDonald said: "This is a unique vacancy on a fantastic island.

"It isn't a run of the mill job – it's a life-changing opportunity for the right person. The more people that hear about it the better because the right doctor is out there somewhere.

"We want to find those people."

The islanders have some experience in this work. In 2005 Jura was the only vacant practice in Argyll after their GP retired the year before.

The community were unhappy about the former Argyll and Clyde Health Board's attempts to recruit a doctor.

So the authority eventually agreed to allow local island representatives up to £2500 to see if they could get a better response to their adverts.

They did. There were over 132 requests from around the world for particulars and 36 formal applications, one from Italy and one from Germany.

However, they ended up appointing a doctor who had been working in Livingston, West Lothian.

He arrived with his wife and young family and they stayed on the island for a tenure of four years.

Another doctor came and went but for over a year the islanders have had to rely on locums. Their desire for a more satisfactory, permanent solution has seen them launch a new recruitment drive.

Located in the Inner Hebrides off the west coast of Argyll, and adjacent to the island of Islay, Jura is a 45-minute ride by passenger ferry from the mainland.

The island's passenger ferry to the mainland was assured in April.

It is now in its fifth season, but last year reduced public support meant the service only operated at weekends for half the season.

This prompted concerns that it was the prelude to the island losing its first direct service to the mainland for 40 years.

Transport Scotland has committed more than £100,000 to support the service from Craighouse to Tayvallich from Easter until the end of September, for both this year and next.

A spokesman for NHS Highland said: "We have been working closely with the local community on Jura to recruit a suitably qualified GP to work on the island.

"Innovative ideas such as this Facebook campaign from the local community are definitely to be welcomed."