Multimillion-pound plan for Caithness health services approved by Scottish health secretary
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
THE approval of a multimillion-pound health and social care redesign plan for Caithness has been hailed as "a significant step forward".
Michelle Johnstone, NHS Highland area manager for the north, said she was delighted Scotland's health secretary Jeane Freeman had given the go-ahead to the plans which could be delivered by 2022.
Under the proposals care hubs would be created in Wick and Thurso and investment made in Caithness General Hospital as part of a comprehensive redesign of services in the far north.
Ms Freeman gave her support to the plan in a letter to the board’s interim chairman, Boyd Robertson.
She said: "I note the positive support for the care hub model for the delivery of health and social care services in Caithness and that the proposed care hub model for Thurso and Wick has the support of 70 per cent of the people who participated in the formal consultation process."
The minister added: "The model of care is supported by the majority of local stakeholders including clinical staff, planning partners, local people and their representatives. The board vision set out should provide modern, fit-for-purpose services for the benefit of local people in Caithness."
Welcoming the news yesterday, Ms Johnstone said: "I am delighted with the approval from the Scottish Government. It is a significant step forward and recognition of the huge amount of work that has taken place to get to this stage.
"The team locally have been working hard on the proposals in order that they can be progressed to the next stage. There is still a lot of work to do but I believe we can progress with confidence."
The next step will be the submission of an initial agreement at the health board meeting in the summer.
An outline business case is due to be submitted by summer 2020, with the final step, the full business case, by summer 2021 and the project delivery and commissioning planned for 2022.
Three options were presented during a public consultation which ran from August 20 to November 23 last year. A consultation survey form was issued to 14,529 households.
The options were:
- Stay with the existing arrangements
- Care hubs/villages at the Dunbar in Thurso and Wick Town and County Hospital.
- Care hubs/villages at the Dunbar and Pulteney House in Wick.
During the three-month public consultation, more than 105 meetings – as well as 28 staff meetings – were held and 2017 responses to the consultation survey were received. Survey forms were sent to all homes in the area with a response rate of nine per cent of adults and 14 per cent of homes in the area.
