A GP shortfall could be partly plugged by recruits from abroad.

Swindon health bosses have applied to NHS England for 20 new GPs – recruited internationally under a new scheme.

NHS England plan to recruit 600 doctors from overseas by April. The quango has established a GP International Recruitment Office to manage the global hiring drive.

Swindon Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) have put in a bid for 20 GPs – as part of a joint pitch from the NHS Bath & North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP).

The bid was submitted last month. If successful, the GPs would start work by 2020.

A spokeswoman for Swindon CCG said: “The STP is waiting to hear from NHS England on the outcome of the bid.”

It is hoped that the new hires will go some way to fill Swindon’s double digit GP shortfall.

Last year, the Adver reported that the town needed an extra 25 GPs.

According to the Wessex Local Medical Committees, which represents Swindon GPs, the town has a 20 per cent vacancy rate – around twice the regional average.

Chief executive Dr Nigel Watson said: “Swindon is in a particularly difficult position. There are about 40,000 GPs in the country. Last year, another thousand left general practice.”

His organisation supported moves to train more GPs – but worried about recruiting from overseas: “Our concern is that each health system is quite different. The NHS isn’t unique, but it very different to other countries.”

Dr Watson said that general practice was radically different in the UK, where family doctors are expected to be “specialist generalists”.