The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Cathy, 105, keen To pump iron
This should have been a banner week for NHS Tayside. An announcement on plans for a £35 million centre of excellence for surgery at Perth Royal Infirmary on Thursday coincided with the unveiling of a new mental health strategy for the region, promising cradle to the grave support and addressing many of the concerns set out in Dr David Strang’s review of services in 2020.
Following 12 months in which the NHS has risen to the challenges of the greatest public health crisis in several generations, a bit of back-slapping might have been forgiven.
But shadowing the successes is a growing sense that something is rotten in the state of the region’s breast cancer care.
This week also brought an appearance by NHS Tayside chief Grant Archibald before Holyrood’s public audit committee where he told MSPs he was unable to make long-term promises about the future of the service following the departure of several individuals from the health board’s oncology team.
A consultant oncologist from NHS Grampian has been seeing new chemotherapy patients since September due to vacancies, prompting concerns that some women might miss out on treatment because they are not able to travel.
The service has been under scrutiny since 2019 when it emerged that 200 patients were given lowerthan-standard doses of chemotherapy drugs in a bid to reduce harmful side effects.
A Scottish Governmentcommissioned review said the treatment resulted in a 1-2% increased risk of their cancer recurring, but questions have since been raised about the expert advice behind the claim with suggestions the evidence was “flawed” and one contributor removing his name from the medical register.
Meanwhile, doctors in Tayside have reported being physically threatened following its publication and patient campaigners say their pleas for a meeting with Nicola Sturgeon or Health Secretary Jeane Freeman have fallen on deaf ears.
Now the first minister has pledged she will look into the problems after being pressed on Mr Archibald’s admission by north east Labour MSP Jenny Marra.
There are some who say there has been too much political interference in the service already but a proper airing of the facts is overdue.
Patients must have confidence in their treatment and staff deserve to hold their heads as high as colleagues in every other area of the NHS.
When a bird hide at the Loch Leven nature reserve near Kinross was torched by vandals, locals reacted with anger and revulsion.
The Mill Hide, built in 2011, has won design awards and is loved by residents and visitors alike.
A day or two later it emerged that a 14-year-old boy had been in touch to admit his part in the blaze – and this time the reaction was more surprising.
Some praised the lad for his courage in facing up to what he had done. Others commended his parents for bringing him up with a sense of right and wrong.
Even staff at the reserve were philosophical, saying they hoped people would appreciate what it took for the boy to come forward and admit his mistake.
Better still, they said, they had received so many offers of help to repair the hide, they were finding it hard to keep up.
“Let’s look forward to new start,” said spokesman.
“We all still have the natural beauty of Loch Leven to enjoy in these difficult times.” a a
To err is human, to forgive divine. One of those actions is harder than the other and the good folk of Kinross set us a remarkable example this week.
Nursing home residents have had it tougher than most this past year.
As Covid-19 has taken its tragic toll the sector has been locked down for much of the pandemic, denying some of our most senior citizens precious time with loved ones and stimulation beyond their own four walls.
So it’s not surprising that Catherine Smith is desperate for the restrictions to lift – although her reasons are not what you might expect.
The 105-year-old greatgreat-gran cannot wait to gain her freedom so she can get back to pumping iron.
Cathy, who was born before the Spanish flu pandemic that claimed 50 million lives in the aftermath of the Great War, moved into the Castle Lodge home in Inverbervie last spring, shortly before the lockdown was imposed.
Prior to that she’d been a regular at the gym in her home town of Montrose, where her weekly sessions on the weights machine put people half her age to shame.
The last year has been “absolutely hellish”, she admits, but the former ballroom dancing champ, who was still riding a bike in her 90s, has had her jabs and is raring to return to normal.
“I get on fine with the people here, and give them the occasional kick up the bum to keep them on their toes,” she told our reporter.
Cathy, you’re just the tonic we need and we’ll all be cheering you on.