Positive talks between NHS Highland and islanders

NHS HIGHLAND officials met members of Raasay Community Council last Friday looking to improve health care provision on the island and relations between the community and NHS management.

Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch MSP Kate Forbes arranged the meeting, saying NHS Highland must ‘understand the challenges facing the island community’ rather than simply imposing solutions from a distance.

Islanders have been without resident outof-hours nursing provision since July 2015. Efforts to recruit a permanent nurse on the island have been unsuccessful. Chairman of NHS Highland David Alston and Tracy Ligema, deputy director of operations at NHS Highland, had a ‘constructive discussion’ with the community council about how health and social care might be delivered on Raasay as the community feels the present system is not meeting the island’s needs.

Ms Forbes said the talks were positive. She said: ‘We have agreed to another meeting in April which will look at the options in more detail. I’m really pleased the community was able to share its requirements and that NHS Highland listened and engaged.’

Chairwoman of Raasay Community Council Anne Gillies said: ‘This is the best meeting we have had with NHS management. We are looking at what Raasay needs rather than what can’t be done. Our biggest concern is that no- one is here out of hours. We spoke about what the place needs and the different things we think need to be covered. We need to bring together what NHS Highland can do and what we want. We are not completely out of the woods yet, but we are on common ground and moving away from the stalemate we have been at for the past 20 months.’