Caithness councillor accused of 'born again conversion' after calling for action on postponed £80 million health redesign project
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A CAITHNESS councillor was accused of undergoing "a born again conversion" after calling for action to be taken over the postponed £80 million redesign of health projects in Caithness.
Thurso and Northwest Caithness councillor, Ron Gunn, made the comment during a lively debate on the issue at a meeting in the town this week. It was directed at his council colleague, Karl Rosie, who has resigned from the SNP and now sits with the Independent group at Highland Council.
Fellow ward councillor, Matthew Reiss, claimed Mr Rosie's response would have been different prior to him leaving the party and said his reaction would have been "very predictable" if he was still a SNP member. Councillor Rosie said that was "absolute nonsense" and asked what is being done to oppose the postponement of the health plans.
Speaking at Tuesday night's meeting of the Thurso Community Council, councillor Rosie, claimed something needs to be done about the initiative being put on hold for at least two years. The redesign project includes community hub and care villages in Wick and Thurso – costing £55 million – and a reconfiguration of Caithness General Hospital.
However, Scottish health boards were told to pause any new capital projects until 2026 at the earliest and concentrate on essential maintenance after the Scottish Government said its capital funding was "extremely challenging".
Councillor Rosie said the public needs to know what is happening. "Do we just cross our fingers and wait for two years to see what happens. That is not acceptable. We need to do something about it now."
Councillor Gunn, the chairman of the Caithness Health Action Team (CHAT) said councillor Rosie appeared to have undergone "a born again conversion" regarding his stance on the redesign.
"Things can't be arranged overnight. We will be having some sort of public meeting and will be meeting with our MSP, Maree Todd quite soon," he said.
Councillor Rosie responded: "We need to take some action to register what people are thinking." He argued that local MP, Jamie Stone, has "an important role to play as well."
Councillor Gunn, who chairs Highland Council's Caithness committee, stressed that CHAT is working on various options.
Community councillor, Colin Johnston, agreed with councillor Rosie and said: "It is a democracy we are living in." He also pointed out that the French farmers took action and blocked roads with their tractors in protests about environmental policies which make their products more expensive than non-EU imports.
Iain Gregory, the community council secretary, said the so-called pause on funding is "a serious and major problem" and argued that something needs to be done to "express public dissatisfaction" with the decision. "Action of some form is required although we have to comply with the rules and regulations," he said.
Community councillor, Marlene MacDonald, asked what "can we do to support local Highland councillors and work together."
Councillor Reiss said: "CHAT has stood the test of time. One of the best ways to fight this is to support CHAT and its chairman."
As previously reported, Christian Nicolson, NHS Highland's Caithness district manager, said the pause in the capital funding from the Scottish Government for the redesign scheme is "a blow" and would "impact on our plans". But she stressed that "things which we have started working on will continue to fruition. Anything which has not had a spade in the ground will be paused."
