Palliative care set to be ‘big issue’ in Caithness
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PALLIATIVE care looks set to be top of the agenda when the fate of health services in west Caithness is decided next month.
An drop-in session held in the Pentland Hotel on Tuesday drew in around 50 people keen to find out more about, and comment on, the North Highland Community Health Partnership’s “redesign” options for Dunbar Hospital.
The main issue that came to the fore from the day was palliative care.
That care for those in pain and suffering is such a high priority was no surprise to North Highland CHP general manager Sheena Macleod.
“Palliative care is a big issue for the public and that’s been apparent in practically every meeting that we have been to,” she told the John O’Groat Journal.
“Every community council and focus group we have spoken to has said palliative care should be in their own local area. When you talk to people about enhanced care they have said, ‘yes that’s what we want, but we want it close to home – we don’t want to have to travel’.We would recognise that it’s a major issue for our local community.”
The drop-in session in the ballroom had multiple stations set up with NHS Highland officials on hand to answer any queries.
Information was set out in simple, easy-to-understand charts which seemed to go down well with the general public. A few people did complain about the timing of the meeting – between 4pm and 7pm – with some saying it was too early and others too late.
However the main concern raised was the provision of palliative care in the west of Caithness. Currently the service is delivered through a combination of community nursing, GP services, Macmillan nurses, carers and representatives from other groups.
Inpatient beds are provided at the Dunbar Hospital as well as the two hospitals in Wick. There is also a day hospice service provided by Highland Hospice which is located in Thurso.
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 becoming a base for community services.
The options listed for palliative and end-of-life care are:
1: Status quo
2: Enhanced care from community nursing staff
3: Additional staff and extended hours including out-of-hours and overnight support to provide care in people’s homes
4: Inpatient beds in nursing homes in Thurso – Pentland View (Barchester Care)
5: “Blue-Bell” bed(s) in partnership with hospice, Macmillan nurses and community nurses within Highland Council’s residential home – Bayview in Thurso
6: Inpatient beds retained for palliative care in Dunbar Hospital
7: Inpatient beds for palliative care provided in Wick Town and County
The North Highland CHP governance committee hopes to make an informed decision at the end of December and has asked for five key areas to be further explored including palliative and end-of-life care in Thurso.
Those attending the open event were given the opportunity to provide feedback on all the options and to suggest any further ideas. The feedback, together with the findings from the petition, will be included as part of the additional evidence to be fed into the extraordinary meeting of the North Highland CHP governance committee.
If the committee feels it can make a decision then it will go forward to the NHS Highland Board without prejudice. The cabinet secretary for health, Nicola Sturgeon, will then decide whether she wishes to call this matter in for consideration.
Mrs Macleod said that it was good to have the drop-in chat with the public as the information could then be passed on to the committee.
“We were delighted that people took the opportunity to come and actually talk to staff about their concerns and people are putting their suggestions to us,” she said.
“It’s really useful to have that feedback that we can take back to the North Highland CHP meeting on December 20.”
NHS Highland’s locality general manager for Caithness Pauline Craw said they had tried to be “as open and transparent as possible” with the redesign proposals but local NHS staff were still concerned.
“We spoke to the staff before we came down here because we know what we are doing here but we want them to be up-to-date too,” she said. “I would say the staff are quite concerned.
“They said if a decision was made they would be right behind us.
“But the fact that a decision still hasn’t been made has made them anxious and they don’t know what they are going to do.
“We do understand that and we’re doing our best to keep them up to date.”
The North Highland CHP extraordinary general meeting will be held in public at the Weigh Inn, Thurso, on Tuesday, December 20, at 2pm.
