NHS ‘not looking at total picture’ in Caithness
A PLAN to transfer palliative care services from Thurso to Wick is causing concern to local trade union representatives.
Speaking at last Monday night’s meeting of the Thurso and Wick Trade Union Council chairman Derrick Milnes, said the proposal – mooted by local health bosses – would mean no palliative care being provided at the Dunbar in Thurso. Instead, patients would have to go to the Town and County Hospital in Wick. However, he said in the West Caithness Service Redesign document it indicates that the Town and County itself could be closed and the patients re-housed elsewhere to save money.
“They do not seem to be looking at the total picture,” said Mr Milnes, who welcomed the North Highland Community Health Partnership’s decision to look again at palliative care in Thurso.
That is one of the five key areas CHP agreed to reconsider following concern expressed by members last month. The other four are: the vision for the Dunbar, the opening hours of the minor injuries unit, transport and the staffing implications. Meanwhile, the trade union council has written to North MSPs to register its discontent over the consultation process on proposed changes to the Dunbar Hospital.
Members wrote to Caithness, Sutherland and Ross MSP Rob Gibson and Highland MSPs Mary Scanlon, Rhoda Grant, David Stewart, John Finnie, Jean Urquhart and Jamie MacGrigor to express their views.
In their letter, the trades council say its members as well as GPs, ambulance staff, Thurso Community Council and Caithness Chamber of Commerce have had little input into the process and not much opportunity express their concerns to CHP.
Members pointed out that they were not allowed to express their views at a CHP meeting in Thurso on August 16 as it was a meeting held in public but not a public meeting. They were given an opportunity to speak at the end of the meeting but had other commitments and could not wait.
Under the proposed changes, the 12 inpatient beds at the Dunbar would close and the hours at the minor injuries unit would be reduced with the hospital in Thurso becoming a base for community services.
“The Dunbar has been an essential establishment going back 100 years serving Caithness and Sutherland, offering a vast range of medical services and outpatient treatments,” stated the letter to the MSPs.
While the trade union representatives understand the financial constraints on the NHS, they stress that to attract inward investment into Caithness in the wake of the rundown of the Dounreay nuclear site it is vital to have services and infrastructure in place.
“Whoever has agreed the recommendations from the CHP report has omitted to read documents relating to the sustainable economic growth for this area,” the letter added.
Meanwhile, two local Highland councillors were praised for their part in getting health bosses to look again at the plans for the Dunbar hospital.
Retired minister the Rev Ronnie Johnstone congratulated Thurso councillor John Rosie and Landward Caithness councillor David Flear as well as patient representative Liz Smith, from Thurso, for “the strong case” they made at last month’s CHP meeting.
“The proposal would have been steamrollered through but for them,” he said.