Cornish town hosts flash mob to attract new GP

The video is being filmed to showcase Lostwithiel and its creative, special community

Hundreds of people have descended on a Cornish town for a flash mob as residents try and help recruit new doctors to the area.

Lostwithiel surgery has been struggling to find GPs, and one of the partners is retiring.

Local company Really Lovely Projects decided to film a video to show off the "really creative" community, in the hope of attracting a replacement.

Director Michelle Nineham said Lostwithiel was a special place.

She said: "Our community is amazing. People have been really keen to get involved, they know how important it is for our town.

"It's the only surgery in town, and everybody's on board. They're pretty used to our crazy going on as well."

Michelle Nineham says it is difficult to show off the town in an advert in the British Medical Journal

Ms Nineham said the town had "a great creative community" and the film would be shared on all social media outlets.

"We want to show that off, and it's very difficult to do that in a journal advert in the BMJ, so we hope that this will really show off the town, show off the surgery, and all the skills that are there as well, and that will attract the sort of person we want here," she added.

Dr Justin Hendriksz, GP and partner at Lostwithiel Medical Practice, said the surgery was responsible for about 5,500 patients and it was looking for an "excellent GP".

Mr Hendriksz is one of the partners at the Lostwithiel surgery

He said: "I think the most important thing is, again, not to take yourself too seriously, but to take the patients very seriously.

"I think we're looking for someone who wants to not work with numbers, we're not accountants, we want to work with patients, real people, and their families."

Mr Hendriksz said he was "really surprised" the surgery was struggling to recruit as "it's just an amazing lifestyle in all areas" down in the south-west of England.