No one could be happier than New England Area Health Service medical services director Dr Peter Finlayson who six months ago extended the search to international shores in a bid to fill the vacancies.

“As many people are aware New England Health has left no stone unturned in its six month long quest to obtain further orthopaedic surgeons for New England.

“The new surgeons Dr Haig Lennox and Dr Graeme Doig will work with our current orthopaedic specialists in seeing new patients, reducing current waiting lists and providing an on-call service for after hours emergency treatment,” he said.

Dr Finlayson said the surgeons from South Africa and the United Kingdom would start their own waiting lists as well as take on the overflow from longstanding lists.

He said patients would be rebooked and a waiting period of around 12 months was expected.

“At the moment there is a really big need for orthopaedic surgeons, acute problems get treatment straight away but it has been a struggle to even keep that together with the existing services,” he said.

He said the NEHS would provide accommodation for the surgeons on the campus of its Tamworth Base Hospital and contact numbers will be made available as soon as possible. Dr Finlayson said because of the experience gained in the service’s recruitment endeavours, he has been invited to be a member of the Commonwealth Government committee set up to fast track processes to assist in recruiting Area of Need overseas trained doctors.