Petition ‘gives people a voice’
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‘THERE is a lot of strong feeling... a lot of anger, right across the age range."
That is the claim of a Thurso woman spearheading a public campaign opposing proposed changes to the town’s Dunbar Hospital.
The "Save the Dunbar Hospital" petition has collected more than 3400 signatures in just under the two months since it was launched.
Organiser Rona Button said she has been "really surprised" by the strength of feeling on the matter when out canvassing support
"At the moment it’s just me and my daughter really pushing it, but the number of people coming up to us in the shops is quite amazing," she said. "When I was telling people what I was doing they were turning on their heels and coming back into the shop to sign. It’s given people a voice."
Mrs Button along with her daughter, Hazel Dunbar, organised the petition opposing plans which could see the closure of the inpatient beds at the hospital and a cut in the opening hours of the minor injuries unit.
Under the proposals palliative care services would be transferred to the Town and County Hospital in Wick while the Dunbar would become a centre for long-term conditions.
Mrs Button and Ms Dunbar have organised a Facebook group "Save Dunbar Hospital" which has 938 members while an online petition now has over 389 signatures.
Mrs Button and Ms Dunbar hope to show strength of numbers and opinions at the next meeting of the North Highland Community Health Partnership committee, after the matter was deferred in August.
CHP committee chairman Colin Punler said the proposal to redesign services in west Caithness is part of a strategy to deliver the best possible healthcare within the available resources.
This would be done by shifting the balance of care from hospital settings to community settings, he said.
"The committee that oversees the NHS in Caithness and Sutherland is aware of anxiety in the community about these proposed changes. This concern was articulated clearly at our last meeting in Thurso by lay and elected members from the community," said Mr Punler.
The committee chairman explained that they have asked NHS management to consider five specific areas of concern relating to the plans – the need to paint a clearer picture of what the changes would mean for the Dunbar Hospital, greater detail on the minor injuries unit and how the reduced opening hours would work, revisiting the issue of locating palliative care beds in Thurso – including considering a co-location with a private firm or the local authority – how the workforce would be transferred and any travel or socio-economic issues that would be involved with patients having to go through to Wick.
Mr Punler said: "I hope this reassures the petition’s supporters that their concerns are being heard and taken seriously. I’m very happy to meet with the organisers of the petition to discuss their concerns at any time."
He also stressed that the proposed changes would not affect the emergency service in Caithness, explaining that cases would still be expected to go through to Caithness General in Wick, as is the case at present.
NHS Highland’s locality general manager Pauline Craw added: "We are aware of the petition and it is reassuring that people in the community are interested in what is going on.
"We had already offered to meet with community groups to discuss all health issues, including the west Caithness redesign, and some groups have taken us up on this."
The next meeting of the CHP committee will be on Tuesday, October 25, at 2pm in the seminar room at Caithness General Hospital, where information regarding the five issues will be presented.
Copies of the petition can be obtained by contacting Mrs Button on 01847 893543.
It can also be found online at www.ipetitions.com/petition/savedunbar/ or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/177510318988017/.
