Specialist medical training programmes should retain some flexibility to help trainee doctors make the right career choices.

Professor Chris Isles from the Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary in Scotland recounts his frustrating hunt to fill his medical staff rota using locums, leading him to some critical conclusions about the poorly regulated locum sector in the UK.

By Lyndsay Moss Health Correspondent AROUND 1,000 more consultants are needed in Scotland to improve outcomes for patients, the leader of the country's doctors has told The Scotsman.

By Nina Lakhani Up to half of all junior doctors are being pressured to work scores of unpaid extra hours with many warning that the practice puts NHS patients at risk, the British Medical Association claims.

YOUR article (February 4) was a fair and balanced account of the debate on GPs' extended hours. Thankfully, the Scottish Government is still in discussion with the profession to determine how this might happen (which is not the case in England, where the UK Government is making unilateral decisions).