Templars Medical is the sole provider of healthcare professionals to the Falkland Islands Government (FIG). We have worked with FIG for several years and being the largest employer in the Islands permanent and fixed-term opportunities are available to doctors; dentists; nurses and allied health professionals.
When considering job opportunities in new locations local knowledge is foremost in helping you make the right choice, and our knowledge of the Falkland Islands means you will be supported door-to-door and fully informed of what to expect upon arrival.
Search Falkland Islands JobsOur local knowledge and experience of working with FIG means we:
The Falkland Islands are a British Overseas Territory, with full internal self-government. The UK is responsible for foreign affairs, retaining the power “to protect UK interests and to ensure the overall good governance of the territory”. The Falkland Islands Government’s responsibilities encompass all areas of public service, including those typically managed by central government; taxation; legislation and policy, as well as those usually managed on a local level such as town planning; health and social services and education.
The Falkland Islands have a land mass of around 4700 square miles and are set in an area of outstanding natural beauty in the South Atlantic, about 400 miles east from the South American mainland and 8000 miles south west of the UK. With two main islands, East and West Falkland and hundreds of small islands and islets, most of the population (around 2500 people) are based in Stanley located in East Falkland.
The British military has a garrison about 35 miles west of Stanley at Mount Pleasant, which is home to around 1200 military personnel and 400 civilians (and dependents). You will often hear Mount Pleasant referred to as MPA or MPC – Mount Pleasant Airport or Mount Pleasant Complex, which also serves as the International Airport. The rest of the population are based out in ‘Camp’ – the countryside, distributed across the rest of the Falklands, often in small settlements of one or two homes or on small islands.
The climate is typically cool and windy, with winters being mild compared to the UK, but summers being cooler. Temperatures range from a maximum of around 25°C in January down to a minimum of around minus 5°C in July or August. Rainfall is generally low, and the Falklands enjoy more sunshine per year than the south of England.
All medical, dental and community health services are based at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH) in Stanley, the Islands’ only hospital. The hospital’s 29 bed complement comprises 18 acute beds, a maternity bed, an isolation unit, a two-bed intensive care unit and seven long-stay nursing home beds.
There are modern facilities for outpatients and community health care, a day centre, two dental surgeries, and a single theatre with anaesthetic room. There is a well-equipped pharmacy, which dispenses all prescriptions and provides an ‘over the counter’ medicine sales and health advice service.
The social services team provide support for a wide range of people with social care needs including children, older people, and people with disabilities or long-term mental health problems. As well as a sheltered and mobile warden service, they also provide the Islands’ probation service.
KEMH has a full range of medical, dental, nursing (including midwives and community nurses), allied health professional and engineering staff, qualified to UK standards or recognised equivalents. Wherever possible, the hospital adheres to UK standards and guidelines for medical practice.
Care to remote farm settlements is provided by the GPs via telephone consultations and regular visits. In an emergency situation, the doctor can be taken to the settlement, or the patient evacuated to Stanley, using the Falkland Islands Government Air Service (FIGAS).
Specialist services are provided by a range of visiting consultants; these include obstetrics & gynaecology, ophthalmology, psychiatry, orthopaedics, ENT and oral & maxillo-facial surgery. Patients who cannot wait for their visits, or who need access to other diagnostic or treatment services, are referred either to UK hospitals under a reciprocal agreement with the UK NHS, or, increasingly, to Santiago. Patients who need emergency treatment which the hospital cannot provide may be flown by air ambulance to Chile or Uruguay.
Relocating thousands of miles to a remote island is a big decision and one you should take the time to carefully consider and research.
All non-residents of the Falkland Islands are required to obtain a work permit and to satisfy Customs and Immigration to be able to obtain the work permit several pre-employment checks which will be completed.
Any family members accompanying you will also need to complete certain checks.
Whilst you are responsible for arranging your own travel insurance, flights, airport transfers and accommodation is all arranged for you with flights departing from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire into Mount Pleasant Airport.
Request a candidate information pack for more information, mail@templarsmedical.com.