‘Island proofing’ may save hospital services

Sir, Proposed new government legislation may help to protect services at Oban’s Lorn and Islands Hospital.

During his recent visit to Mull, covered by The Oban Times, Minister Humza Yousaf found the time to talk about his proposed Islands Bill which he is taking though the Scottish Parliament.

According to his proposal, all new legislation will have to be considered for its impact on island communities. This he called ‘island proofing’ for short. He was able to confirm that the legislation will also apply to policies developed by government agencies as well as the government itself.

The NHS is one of those agencies, so it would appear that as Oban hospital provides services to island communities, as well as to mainland residents, any proposals put forward by the NHS to reduce services at the hospital must be subjected to island proofing before being implemented.

It will be interesting to see whether island proofing can be used to protect local services at the hospital and how we can argue for improvements to the service. David Pollard, Salen, Isle of Mull.