Strontian care facility set to re-open

HEALTH bosses have agreed to re-open the Dail Mhor facility at Strontian for day care and some other services, but there has been disappointment at news that residential care will not be resumed in the foreseeable future.

A private meeting was held with NHS Highland last week and attended by senior Lochaber councillor Andrew Baxter and representatives of local community councils, with local MSP Kate Forbes joining part of the discussions by phone.

The property has been closed since the autumn due to plumbing failures, but Highland Council has now given the green light for NHS Highland to resume some services.

Denise Anderson, chairwoman of Sunart Community Council, said: ‘It’s been really frustrating to wait this long, only to be told that residential care is not going to be provided on the peninsula, but I am pleased that we will at last get the doors to Dail Mhor reopened and day care services back on track.

‘It’s not what we hoped, but better than this continued wall of silence and a closed-down building.’

Geoff Campbell, chairman of West Ardnamurchan Community Council, said no resumption of residential care would be a real blow to many but there was some positive news over day care services.

‘As a community, we must ensure our voice is heard and we find a way to get NHS Highland to care for residents in, or close to, their homes,’ he added.

In a statement on the meeting, NHS Highland deputy director of operations Tracy Ligema said a paper will be produced for the next health board meeting on March 27, setting out the principles and requirements for a strategic approach to long-term care provision across north Highland.

She confirmed there would be no resumption of residential services at Dail Mhor pending the outcome of this review, but the facility could be used for other types of service provision and community uses.

Asked what it all meant for the future of long-term residential care at Dail Mhor, NHS Highland this week told the Lochaber Times: ‘We have made no secret that during the period in which essential remedial work has been carried out in Dail Mhor, NHS Highland has been undertaking a process of looking at how we provide sustainable and affordable long-term care in residential settings and, until that process has been completed, no decision will be made.’