Consultant fears for future of Caithness hospital
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A CONSULTANT at Caithness General Hospital says he has grave concerns for the future of health facilities in rural areas.
Dr Tim Shallcross, who has worked at the facility for 20 years, said that service provision at rural hospitals needs to be looked at.
He is far from convinced that there is the commitment in the health board to fund the required amount to maintain the current level of service.
He originally voiced his concerns during Wick Gala night where he was invited as guest speaker.
Dr Shallcross is due to take up a new position in Elgin later this year, but said that rural hospitals face an uncertain future.
“I do have real concerns about the future of rural health services,” he said. “There is a hospital here that people can be proud of, which provides a very good service for such a small unit.
“Unfortunately, sustaining small units like this is inevitably going to be more expensive for the size of population than the big city hospitals.
“There is extreme pressure to reduce costs and this will probably be packaged and sold to you as a service redesign, or as streamlining the service, or simply making the best use of resources.” He added: “I think that on-call duties and other commitments in the Far North are very heavy.
“I am not sure that there are many doctors who would be willing to take up these sort of posts.”
In response, North Highland Community Health Partnership general manager Sheena Macleod said that the NHS remained committed to providing a high standard of service in the Far North.
She said that it was focused on delivering a safe, high-quality service to patients as close to their homes as possible.
“Current policy protects rural general hospitals which was promoted by NHS Highland and we were delighted to see it supported by government and adopted nationally,” she said this week.
“Rural general hospitals, of which Caithness General is one, are protected from closure and must have a range of consultant services provided within them. However, the services they provide must be safe, of good quality and be sustainable.”
Mrs Macleod explained that the CHP is facing the same financial pressures as the rest of NHS Highland and other health boards across Scotland.
She said that while the Government’s funding to the NHS is not being cut, it will not keep up with health service inflation from increasing drug costs, new technology and increasing demands for service.
“Over the past few years we have seen the introduction of renal dialysis, cataract surgery, CT scanning and chemotherapy bringing a wider range of treatments available more locally to patients. However, we need to reduce waste and to be more efficient so we are able to live within the funding we receive and make further improvements to benefit more patients. To do this we will need to redesign services and streamline what we do.”
