Jane Elliott BBC News Online Health

Dr Kathryn Shore loves walking

As Dr Kathryn Shore looks out of her surgery window she has a beautiful view of the sea.

In between dealing with patients she can watch fishing boats coming in and out of the Shetland port of Lerwick and seals basking on the rocks.

A far remove from her previous practice in Evesham, Worcestershire, in the heart of rural England.

For years Dr Shore had dreamt of joining a practice on one of the Scottish islands.

Sabbatical

And when she became entitled to her year's sabbatical she leapt at the chance to move north with her husband and young daughter.

The move has given Dr Shore a chance not only to indulge her passion for walking, but also to learn some new ways of working.

The lifestyle for me is a whole lot more relaxed Dr Kathryn Shore

But she admits she nearly did not take up the opportunity.

"I photocopied the advert and kept it in my desk for weeks and almost missed the closing date. In fact I made my first contact with the practice on the closing date.

"I have always looked at the medical journal job adverts and had thought I would like to live in either the Lakes or Scotland.

"Adrian my husband was quite shocked when I first mentioned it and said it would not really be very practical for him because he is a vicar. My daughter, Rachel, was just seven and so it was going to be a big upheaval.

"Then my husband told me just to telephone the practice and see what they said.

"They gave me such a positive response".

So the family flew to the Shetlands to inspect Rachel's new school and Adrian confirmed that he would be able to get voluntary work with the nearby church.

Now settled in Lerwick Dr Shore said it is sometimes easy to forget that she is so isolated. Because the practice is situated just across the road from the general hospital she said blood tests can be back within minutes.

Hospital

But she said you realised how far you were from the mainland when you needed to get patients needing urgent appointments with specialists flown to the hospital in Aberdeen.

Despite the practice having a more diverse patient base, made up of divers and fishermen, the illnesses they suffer from are remarkably similar.

But she said that because many of her patients were temporary visitors from the ferries or fishermen they were often difficult to track down to give results to.

Dr Shore said that although the balance of illness in the two practices was fairly similar, there did seem to be a larger concentration of patients with chronic illnesses in Lerwick as people were reluctant to live on the more remote islands while chronically ill.

"There is a remarkable amount of multiple sclerosis here, which is interesting, I don't know whether anybody has done any studies into that. I haven't got any figures, but it is extremely prevalent.

"In Lerwick there is a large chronic disease work-load because it is the centre of Shetland and as people develop chronic diseases they tend to move towards Lerwick. There is quite a concentration here of care homes."

Dr Shore said that the quality of life on the islands was very high and that she would be sorry to leave in April.

She said her working day was shorter, she finishes at 4.15pm, instead of 6-7pm, but added that this might be because she is not a partner at the Lerwick practice and so has less administrative responsibilities.

And that she was spending as much time as possible sightseeing.

"Here I am just working four days a week so that means I can go out walking. The lifestyle for me is a whole lot more relaxed.

"I am doing a lot of walking. I have been to the island of Foula, which is a 25 minute plane ride away and that was quite exciting because there is always the risk that if the weather changes you will not be able to come back the same day. Although fortunately we were able to get back.

"I am also going to evening classes and learning the Shetland dialect.

"I will be sad to go back I would like to stay longer, I think. But there is no work here for my husband.