SIR – We are writing in response to the column by Rob Gibson MSP in the John O’Groat Journal of Friday November 18, entitled “A new prescription is needed for Dunbar”.
We wish to reassure readers that GPs, staff, public and patient representatives have been involved in the working group that has been looking at the options for the redesign of services in west Caithness.
Clinicians, including GPs, as well as patients and the public are also represented on the North Highland Community Health Partnership (CHP) governance committee.
Although this committee meets in public and anyone who is interested is welcome to attend, they are not public meetings.
However, there is always an opportunity at the end of these meetings for contributions from the public and the committee is always open to requests made beforehand to address members.
No-one took up this opportunity at the CHP committee meeting on August 16 at which west Caithness was discussed.
NHS Highland has since received a petition signed by people opposed to the proposal and we are planning to hold another drop-in event in Thurso where members of the public can engage with NHS staff on the redesign.
And the committee deferred a decision pending management’s response to five areas of concern raised by patient and public representatives on the committee. These reflected the concerns of the wider public.
We believe this to show that the NHS governance system is functioning effectively and taking account of local views before reaching a decision on whether the proposal is consistent with the aims and objectives of Scottish health policy.
We are expecting that a decision will be made before Christmas.
We want to reassure local people that there are no plans to close Dunbar Hospital in Thurso. It is proposed that the Dunbar site would be used as a centre for providing community health services so that more people can be looked after in their own homes. This would mean that fewer people would need to be admitted to hospital and those that did need to be admitted would not need to stay for as long, therefore, fewer hospital beds would be needed.
Retaining some or all of the inpatient beds at the hospital and keeping the primary care emergency centre open 24 hours a day every day were among the costed options considered. This information has been included in papers that have gone to the governance committee, which are available on the NHS Highland website.
We have been aware of the condition of the building for some time, but funding has not been available to carry out the work needed to bring it up to the required standard for inpatient care.
The current backlog for maintenance at the Dunbar is £976,000. Even if funds were available to carry out this work, it would not be the best use of available resources as it would not allow for the development of community services and would not, therefore, meet the needs of the local community.
The number of people over 75 will more than double between 2008 and 2033, so the number of people with complex needs is increasing.
This means the status quo is not an option and we have to start doing things differently.
Pauline Craw,
locality general manager,
Colin Punler,
chairman,
North Highland Community Health Partnership governance committee,
NHS Highland.
