Health secretary ‘expecting’ return to 24-hour urgent care

Health Secretary Neil Gray says he expects NHS Highland to get on with plans to restore 24-hour urgent care at Portree Hospital in Skye, after an out-of-hours crisis hit the island.

The senior SNP minister met NHS Highland bosses yesterday morning to discuss two major incidents which saw the emergency care system collapse on Saturday.

Teacher Eilidh Beaton nearly died while waiting an hour for an ambulance that evening as crews were attending other incidents, including the death of Skye Live festival-goer Heather Aird.

Both incidents occurred shortly before midnight just minutes from Portree Community Hospital, which no longer offers urgent care after 7.30pm due to “staffing challenges”.

Speaking to The P&J in Aberdeen yesterday, Mr Gray confirmed the SNP government expects NHS Highland to work to restore 24-hour urgent care.

But he would not comment on calls by Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes for the health board to carry out an urgent investigation, stating that he needed the “full facts”.

Mr Gray said: “I expect a delivery plan urgently. And I would expect us to be returning to a point where there was 24-hour care available at Portree.

“I’m looking at the new chief executive Fiona Davies to come forward to me with the delivery plan on how they get to the point of being able to return to that so that local residents can feel some comfort in the fact there is that response coming.”

The Orkney-born health secretary said being brought up in an island community means he understands the need to deliver services “as close to home as possible”.

Also at yesterday’s meeting was Sir Lewis Ritchie, who came forward with an external review around services on Skye six years ago.

It stated that moving all services to Broadford Hospital – a 40-minute drive away – would be “disadvantageous to the people of North Skye”.

It recommended that “out-of-hours urgent care access at Portree Hospital should be provided 24/7 – there should be no closure of Portree Hospital in the out-of-hours period”.

Mr Gray added: “My thoughts go out to the family of the person who sadly passed away and also the woman who had an anaphylactic shock.

“My understanding is the two ambulances that served that area were called out to other emergency incidents and the situation was a very challenging one.”

A spokesman for NHS Highland said the health board had met with campaign group SOS-NHS Skye in Portree Hospital last month to understand the concerns of local residents.

He added: “The new CEO, Fiona Davies, and chair, Sarah Compton-Bishop, underlined our commitment to completing the outstanding recommendations of the Sir Lewis Ritchie review.”

The spokesman continued: “We will be liaising with the Scottish Ambulance Service in relation to this incident as part of our investigations and to take forward any learning for both organisations.”

SUPPORT: Health Secretary Neil Gray with Kyle Hewitt at Pittodrie Stadium yesterday. Picture by Kenny Elrick.

Skye teacher Eilidh Beaton, pictured with her partner Michael, nearly died while waiting almost an hour for an ambulance after going into anaphylactic shock.