This week’s Free Press reported on the Fraser family’s move to Stranraer:
Stranraer’s newest GP began work recently – and he’s literally an answer to prayer! James Fraser, 29, has moved to Stranraer from Glasgow to take up a post in Lochnaw practice that had been advertised for 5 years without a single applicant. He and his family have made the move for an unusual reason – a prayer request sent out by some of the existing doctors. In June 2018, with the GP crisis in Wigtownshire continuing to worsen, two of the existing GPs sent out a prayer letter to local churches outlining the precarious situation in primary care in the area, and particularly the lack of GPs. The letter noted that hard work being done to try and recruit GPs to fill the vacancies, but without success. Rev. Stephen Steele, the Reformed Presbyterian minister in Stranraer, forwarded the letter on to others in his denomination, and James and his wife Katie, then members of the RP Church in Glasgow, read it partway through James’s GP training. They felt led to answer the call, and having finished his training in Glasgow, James, Katie and their two young sons have now moved to Stranraer. James is originally from Inverness and Katie from Glasgow, and they are enjoying life in Stranraer so far. James said: ‘After visiting and after prayerful consideration, it became more and more apparent that a move to Stranraer would be the right thing to do, both to help the GP staffing issue and also to get involved in the RP congregation here’.
James and Katie are both keen Parkrunners, have already taken part in Agnew Parkrun, and say they are looking forward to getting involved in the wider community here.