Fears that reduction in surgical cover could affect people’s decision to move to Caithness
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THE bid to attract businesses and jobs to the far north could be affected by the loss of round-the-clock surgical cover at Caithness General.
So says Sir Anthony Cleaver, who chairs Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership, the body which is spearheading efforts to offset the rundown of jobs at Dounreay.
“When companies or individuals are thinking about coming into an area, they look at basic things such as accommodation, education and health facilities. If there was to be a reduction in the surgical cover at Caithness General that could affect the opportunities to bring people here,” Sir Anthony said.
Speaking from his home in London, he said Caithness has “a lot of attractions” to offer but stressed health provision is a factor people consider when moving to another area.
Asked what the partnership can do to ensure its views are heard, Sir Anthony replied: “We can take part in the debate and draw people’s attention to our concerns. We have local politicians on our advisory group and we work closely with local MP John Thurso.”
He said it is too early to assess if any potential companies have reservations about coming north because of the issues at Caithness General.
Sir Anthony said trying to replace the jobs being lost at Dounreay is “a long-term issue” but argued that the partnership is helping to “bring in a significant number of jobs each year”.
He adds: “There are a number of promising opportunities around at the moment. Caithness has a lot of offer not least its highly-skilled workforce.
“North Highland College UHI has good facilities and the quality of local education is very high. There are tremendous opportunities at the ports in Scrabster and Wick but there is a lot of competition around so we have got to keep working at it.
“There are lots of attractions we can build on,” said.
Another positive for Sir Anthony is that the rundown at Dounreay is taking place over a number of years.
“It is not as if a car plant is being closed at the end of the month. There is time to try and get the very best for Caithness and maximise the economic benefits for the area,” he added.
