Retirement of island GP poses ‘a real danger’ to 700 patients
PATIENTS have warned they will be left in danger without a resident doctor when their GP retires in two weeks.
A campaign has been launched by locals on a Scottish island whose family doctor is leaving without being replaced.
Dr Frank Teunisse has covered the village of Bunessan in the south-west of Mull as a single-handed GP practice for 18 months, undertaking daytime surgeries and out-of-hours cover.
But the 60-year-old is retiring and his post has not been advertised, with health chiefs considering a single medical practice for the whole of the island.
Locals say this poses a ‘real danger’ to patients because the area is so remote. But health bosses insist a single practice would provide safer, more sustainable, cover and give patients easier access to a male or female GP and specialists.
The Bunessan surgery provides care for 700 patients. Now a 320name petition is to be sent to Health Secretary Shona Robison from locals calling for the post to be filled.
Dr Teunisse is among those who have signed the petition, pressing for the present system to continue.
It is unclear how primary care services will operate on the island. But petition organiser Jonathan Knight, 75, from Pennyghael, Ross of Mull, said some patients might face car journeys of an hour and 40 minutes via single track roads to see a GP under the plans.
He said: ‘Dr Frank has been a wonderful example of a rural GP. He is a real hands-on doctor who loves to administer to his patients including out-of-hours emergencies. ‘His approach has also relieved the pressures on hospitals and consultants.’
He added: ‘If you get something good, don’t change it without good reason.
‘Our current doctor covers emergencies as well as routine surgery work. Due to our remote location this makes us feel much safer as he can attend to emergencies quicker.’
Mr Knight said continuity of care, where a doctor knows how someone was at their last appointment, was crucial to patients like his 67-year-old wife Ann, who has Parkinson’s disease.
He claimed: ‘The intention to replace independent single practices with group practices, even when this is incompatible with the geography and remoteness of a particular area, poses a real danger to patients in emergency situations, which does not exist when the GP resides locally.’
Another local resident, former Mull councillor Alistair MacDougall, said: ‘If the doctor is in Craignure and I am in Bunessan and have a heart attack, I am dead – it’s as simple as that. We need a resident doctor.’
But as there has been no advert for a new GP, locums, at a cost of up to £1,000 a day, will be brought in when Dr Teunisse retires.
Public meetings are being held on Mull and Iona this week to discuss proposals for an islandwide practice.
A spokesman for Argyll Health and Social Care Partnership said the health board’s Mull and Iona locality planning group, which includes a range of island representatives, had voted in favour of a single island-wide practice, with fur- ther work on its delivery to be developed.
A lead GP for the island-wide service is to be advertised.
The spokesman added: ‘Members acknowledged there was real concern and anxiety across the communities on how the service would work in practice.’
‘It was agreed that further meetings would be arranged in all the communities to brief the public on how the service would operate and help to allay these concerns.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘This year we’re investing £850,000 in increased support to expand the remote and rural incentive scheme, which will have a positive impact for rural GP practices.
‘Our ambition is to increase the number of GPs by at least 800 over ten years to ensure a sustainable service that meets increasing demand.
‘We are establishing the Rural General Practice Short Life Working Group, which will be chaired by Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie and include representation from GPs in rural areas.’
‘Don’t change it without reason