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Thread: NHS Service in Caithness

  1. #101
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    Quote Originally Posted by squidge View Post
    Hi Mother Superior

    This was shared on Gail Ross's Facebook Page on 6th Jan




    And this yesterday


    I know that Gail did ask that these posts were shared. Hope that helps
    Does that mean Emergency surgery will be covered at Raigmore if its only between 9 and 3 Monday to Friday?
    Last edited by weeker2014; 08-Jan-15 at 20:39.

  2. #102
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    Quote Originally Posted by weeker2014 View Post
    Does that mean Emergency surgery will be covered at Raigmore if its between 9 and 3 Monday to Friday?
    Weeker I Hope you are well?

    I think what we can deduce from the revelations in Gail Ross's posts is that GCHQ is now in charge of NHS Highland so you are not likely to ever get an answer I'm afraid.

  3. #103
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mother Superior View Post
    Weeker I Hope you are well?

    I think what we can deduce from the revelations in Gail Ross's posts is that GCHQ is now in charge of NHS Highland so you are not likely to ever get an answer I'm afraid.
    Slowly on the mend thanks Mother Superior. Got home yesterday so just trying to rest

  4. #104
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    I have had a horrible thought this evening. Whilst everyone was focusing and on and fighting for the Dunbar management snuck in and shut the Harmsworth? is that what it was called. Now everyone is focusing and fighting about surery consultants etc will management hope noone fights for QE which is due to be shut and demolished or so the grapevine has it ? Just a thought .
    My mother seldom said anything, but her sighs were loud enough

  5. #105
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    Looks like my comment in 'e Groats has stirred up some and long overdue.

  6. #106
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    As is often the case with communications from our representatives they tend to create more questions than they answer. On the positive side Gail Ross reports from Wednesday's meeting in Wick that NHS Highland have said they are committed to CGH. The cynic in me says well they WOULD say that wouldn't they. On the negative side Gail reports that 'out of hours surgery at CGH has not changed' and that 'surgery will continue to be provided as normal'. So what does Gail mean by this? It appears that Gail has accepted that providing surgery at CGH only in the daytime Monday to Friday (around one quarter of the hours in the week) is now normal and acceptable!

    Also on the negative side I see that Gail and Deidre voted against the press and public being present at the meeting because , if they had not, NHS Highland would have probably walked out of the meeting! Surely NHS Highland were not afraid of hearing some criticisms of themselves? That would have been no good for their reputation at all! Any 'sensitive' information could easily have been 'skirted around by those present Sadly, by acquiescing in this way Gail ad Deidre have given NHS Highland, and their Ministry of Misinformation, the control they desire in their efforts to only release the bare bones of 'spun' information that will only lead to yet further speculation. So we have to accept that neither our representatives or NHS Highland are prepared to listen to the press or the public until a time or place that suits them which will probably be after the decisions have been secretly made and NHS Highland have a box to tick which says 'public consulted.'

  7. #107
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    As is often the case with communications from our representatives they tend to create more questions than they answer. On the positive side Gail Ross reports from Wednesday's meeting in Wick that NHS Highland have said they are committed to CGH. The cynic in me says well they WOULD say that wouldn't they. On the negative side Gail reports that 'out of hours surgery at CGH has not changed' and that 'surgery will continue to be provided as normal'. So what does Gail mean by this? It appears that Gail has accepted that providing surgery at CGH only in the daytime Monday to Friday (around one quarter of the hours in the week) is now normal and acceptable!

    Also on the negative side I see that Gail and Deidre voted against the press and public being present at the meeting because , if they had not, NHS Highland would have probably walked out of the meeting! Surely NHS Highland were not afraid of hearing some criticisms of themselves? That would have been no good for their reputation at all! Any 'sensitive' information could easily have been 'skirted around by those present. Sadly, by acquiescing in this way Gail ad Deidre have given NHS Highland, and their Ministry of Misinformation, the control they desire in their efforts to only release the bare bones of 'spun' information that will only lead to yet further speculation. So we have to accept that neither our representatives or NHS Highland are prepared to listen to the press or the public until a time or place that suits them which will probably be after the decisions have been secretly made and NHS Highland have a box to tick which says 'public consulted'.
    Last edited by Mother Superior; 09-Jan-15 at 12:07.

  8. #108
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    Mother superior i agree with you i feel the decision to hold the meeting in private was ill thought. I would like to bet NO sensitive information regarding contracts was discussed/ Thats the cynic in me. The pres are doing an excellent job of keeping us informed and keeping the information flowing in an informed manner. No cloak and dagger no secrets and no ignoring the public feeling. I feel this may come back to haunt the councillors who took this stance elections looming all its going to take is a disgruntled member of the NHS to stand against some of you and you will all go running for cover. I also read Gails statement kindly posted by another member. A bit of a childish tantrum which smacks of feet stamping and chest banging.If you were my child id be having a word wiht you. Just because your shouting this out loud does not mean you are right Gail. AT a time like this everything should be in the open as its the public that are going to feel the brunt of managements decisions. Ialso feel that this meeting was full of BS Im not one for bad language however announcing expansion of services when you cant even recruit staff get back to your drawing board and come up with deliverble believeable statements please.
    My mother seldom said anything, but her sighs were loud enough

  9. #109
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    On reading the tone of some of the posts on this thread, I suspect, if the meeting had been public, there would have been little to no time spent, by punters at the meeting, on listening to and trying to understand the recruitment and funding problems faced by Highland Health Board, and even less time spent on any effort to come up with alternative useful temporary plans to cope with a real recruitment problem outwith the control of NHS Highland (and if it comes to that, NHS Grampian and other Health Boards with more rural areas) other than those proposed..........in favour of the punters bleating about their sense of entitlement to have NHS facilities not only on demand, but in the hospital they demand, during the hours they demand.

    I suspect it is unlikely that the punter attending a public meeting would have been offering useful ideas to HHB as to how they can actually persuade surgeons to leave other jobs, and places where they are already settled, for a permanent position in what is perceived, by many south of Perth, the bahookey end of nowhere, which has a higher cost of living than the Central Belt and southwards..and has not a lot to recommend it, lifestyle-wise, bar scenery, not a lot of traffic (or buses) cheap house prices compared to further south (but that cheapness also applies to reselling in the future and problems buying then in more expensive areas) and fresh air(because of the lack of traffic)

    Given it takes time to set up an operating theatre between ops, the theatres need to be cleaned at the end of the working day, and the average person doesn't work until the job is finished (without overtime or time off in lieu) and operations rarely take only a few minutes from start to finish, I'd have thought that planned surgery between the hours of 8am and 6pm on weekdays would be pretty much the norm in most hospitals in which there is only one consultant surgeon. on staff, (and a pretty good one if my experience in 2012 is anything to go by.)

    People...instead of carping....how's about some ideas? Just how do you think that NHS Highland can encourage people to come to Caithness (or even Raigmore) from elsewhere, in an austerity economy which does not allow the carrot of really silly money salaries. Caithness, and most other rural hospitals....and GP practices, if it comes to that, are having real problems recruiting people who will stay longer than they must....to train or fill in time until something better comes along. From what I see in my Grampian Health Board home area, since I have moved back from Caithness, the problem is only going to get worse, regarding GP practices at least, as there are few who are attracting young doctors willing to stay.......and many whose current partners are nearing retirement.

    Out of interest only, do any of you know how many born and brought up in Caithness, and who have gone on to get medical, or medically associated degrees, have come home after qualifying to care for their own, rather than stay away and care for others?

    As an aside.....left to me.......I'd only be paying the university fees for people who agreed to work x years in Scotland in return. Companies set that obligation on employees for whom they pay the costs of improving their qualifications......the MOD sponsors recruits through university with a similar quid pro quo at the end of it.......so why can't the Government do the same?

  10. #110
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    It is absolutely imperative for those of you who are concerned about the NHS in Caithness to get involved in any meetings, patient representative groups, commissioning groups. Did any of you apply for the NHS board post which was advertised in September time? If you are not involved then Why not? Groups like I have mentioned and others exist so that the the public can be informed and can inform the NHS. Please look them up and get your voice heard. If you think you can't fill vacancies or lack the confidence to apply then as your local councillor to help you. The more of us that step up to the plate the louder our voices are. If you are a twitter user then Garry Coutts is a regular tweeter and you can ask him stuff directly. Don't just criticise those who are doing, do something to help.

  11. #111
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    I would like to recommend the posts from squidge and Oddquine.

    However, I would like to take issue with Oddquine on one or two points if I may? The first paragraph rather insults the intelligence of posters on this thread and the public and press who were banned from the meeting in question. To assume that we would have disrupted and extended the meeting is unfair. If there had been a fear of extended questioning from the floor perhaps more time could have been allotted although, of course, those travelling from Invreness would not have been happy with their longer day. As for the press I could not imagine that they would have done anything other than quietly make notes and ask one or two pertinent questions and, who knows, they may have made a valuable contribution.

    I would like to go on by apologising for being a mere 'punter', as you call me and other posters on this thread, for 'bleating and carping' because we feel we should be able to receive emergency surgery 'on demand'. That is the nature of the need - it is an emergency! There are good people posting on here and some ,like weeker forinstance,have first hand experience of needing emergency surgery but finding it was not available north of Aberdeen. Perhaps you have ideas on how we can avoid the need for emergency surgery? Should we stay in bed 24/7 to avoid traffic accidents or do you have an instant cure for burst appendix?

    Nonetheless, there is still much of interest in Oddquine's post and I recommend it as stated previously.
    Last edited by Mother Superior; 10-Jan-15 at 12:51.

  12. #112
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mother Superior View Post
    I would like to recommend the posts from squidge and Oddquine.

    However, I would like to take issue with Oddquine on one or two points if I may? The first paragraph rather insults the intelligence of posters on this thread and the public and press who were banned from the meeting in question. To assume that we would have disrupted and extended the meeting is unfair. If there had been a fear of extended questioning from the floor perhaps more time could have been allotted although, of course, those travelling from Invreness would not have been happy with their longer day. As for the press I could not imagine that they would have done anything other than quietly make notes and ask one or two pertinent questions and, who knows, they may have made a valuable contribution.

    I would like to go on by apologising for being a mere 'punter', as you call me and other posters on this thread, for 'bleating and carping' because we feel we should be able to receive emergency surgery 'on demand'. That is the nature of the need - it is an emergency! There are good people posting on here and some ,like weeker forinstance,have first hand experience of needing emergency surgery but finding it was not available north of Aberdeen. Perhaps you have ideas on how we can avoid the need for emergency surgery? Should we stay in bed 24/7 to avoid traffic accidents or do you have an instant cure for burst appendix?

    Nonetheless, there is still much of interest in Oddquine's post and I recommend it as stated previously.
    They weren't actually banned, you know...........they were simply not invited to the meeting, because it was not a public meeting, but one to ascertain the situation within NHS Highland regarding CGH. The time for a public meeting would have been if, after that private meeting, the intentions of NHS Highland had been to permanently downgrade CGH surgical capacity or whatever. Government ministers undertake private meetings all the time.and then inform the press of what was discussed and any decisions made..and I suspect that was the intentions of the Councillors. Do people really expect to attend all meetings in which their councillors' participate, regardless of the reason for the meeting? After all, if the meeting was secret, they'd not have tweeted/put on FB that it was happening. Going by some comments on this thread, the meeting would not have been disrupted........as it would never have got past the temporary "no surgical cover over evenings and weekends" forced on NHS Highland by recruitment problems.

    To be fair, you do kinda need a consultant anaesthetist if you have a surgical facility...and the BMJ jobs does have an advert for one for Wick....which rather shows that they do not intend to downgrade the surgical side.

    I prefer the word punters to the term stakeholders, but they mean the same.....sorry if you don't like it. I have no problem with being thought of as a punter..after all, it's just a colloquial term for a customer(or in Australia, a voter).......as opposed to the politically correct stakeholder.....or the really irritating "client".

    You still have emergency surgery "on demand"......just not in the place you would all like to have it. After all, that is why the Air Ambulance exists, because of the fact that hospitals in sparsely populated rural areas cannot justify, cost-wise, particularly in the current economic climate, a full hospital facility. The main problem with being in a hospital out of your own local area is difficulty for visitors in getting there....not in the patient getting there....as I found when I was in CGH.

    You don't have to live North of Aberdeen to have to go to Aberdeen for surgery, and you don't have to live North of Inverness to have to travel for treatment, depending on the speciality needed. Heck, I had to spend a month in Inverness a decade or three ago just to have three simple tests, despite there being two local hospitals within 12 miles.....and the cost and scope of health services and expectations as to treatment entitlement has increased exponentially since then.

    Living in a rural community has its drawbacks as well as its benefits. If you go by the NHS Highland Workforce plan for 2104-2015,
    http://www.nhshighland.scot.nhs.uk/Meetings/BoardsMeetings/Documents/Board Meeting 12 August 2014/4.3 Workforce Plan 2014-15.pdf
    punters in Highland live longer than the Scottish average, and have less "premature" deaths, so more live beyond the age of 75.....but that in itself brings pressures on health services, with the percentage of over 65s in Highland being 2% higher than in Scotland as a whole. It does give some idea of the problems faced by the Health Board regarding recruitment..though I'm not convinced that there is a lot they can do to attract permanent staff.

  13. #113
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    Quote Originally Posted by Oddquine View Post
    They weren't actually banned, you know...........they were simply not invited to the meeting, because it was not a public meeting, but one to ascertain the situation within NHS Highland regarding CGH. The time for a public meeting would have been if, after that private meeting, the intentions of NHS Highland had been to permanently downgrade CGH surgical capacity or whatever. Government ministers undertake private meetings all the time.and then inform the press of what was discussed and any decisions made..and I suspect that was the intentions of the Councillors. Do people really expect to attend all meetings in which their councillors' participate, regardless of the reason for the meeting? After all, if the meeting was secret, they'd not have tweeted/put on FB that it was happening. Going by some comments on this thread, the meeting would not have been disrupted........as it would never have got past the temporary "no surgical cover over evenings and weekends" forced on NHS Highland by recruitment problems.

    To be fair, you do kinda need a consultant anaesthetist if you have a surgical facility...and the BMJ jobs does have an advert for one for Wick....which rather shows that they do not intend to downgrade the surgical side.

    I prefer the word punters to the term stakeholders, but they mean the same.....sorry if you don't like it. I have no problem with being thought of as a punter..after all, it's just a colloquial term for a customer(or in Australia, a voter).......as opposed to the politically correct stakeholder.....or the really irritating "client".

    You still have emergency surgery "on demand"......just not in the place you would all like to have it. After all, that is why the Air Ambulance exists, because of the fact that hospitals in sparsely populated rural areas cannot justify, cost-wise, particularly in the current economic climate, a full hospital facility. The main problem with being in a hospital out of your own local area is difficulty for visitors in getting there....not in the patient getting there....as I found when I was in CGH.

    You don't have to live North of Aberdeen to have to go to Aberdeen for surgery, and you don't have to live North of Inverness to have to travel for treatment, depending on the speciality needed. Heck, I had to spend a month in Inverness a decade or three ago just to have three simple tests, despite there being two local hospitals within 12 miles.....and the cost and scope of health services and expectations as to treatment entitlement has increased exponentially since then.

    Living in a rural community has its drawbacks as well as its benefits. If you go by the NHS Highland Workforce plan for 2104-2015,
    http://www.nhshighland.scot.nhs.uk/Meetings/BoardsMeetings/Documents/Board Meeting 12 August 2014/4.3 Workforce Plan 2014-15.pdf
    punters in Highland live longer than the Scottish average, and have less "premature" deaths, so more live beyond the age of 75.....but that in itself brings pressures on health services, with the percentage of over 65s in Highland being 2% higher than in Scotland as a whole. It does give some idea of the problems faced by the Health Board regarding recruitment..though I'm not convinced that there is a lot they can do to attract permanent staff.
    What a complete pile of toot!!!!

    Firstly, why not try saying prospective patient instead of punter??

    Secondly, I don't see why I should need to be airlifted to Aberdeen when there is a perfectly good main hospital in the Highlands in Raigmore, which is not a rural hospital. Inverness is a city. I did not need specialist treatment for a rare disease, I had a heart attack, which by anyones book is a pretty common thing to happen to people.

    I also take offence to you noting that it is not difficult for patients to get to Aberdeen. I would absolutely beg to differ. From someone who was airlifted a mear 10 days ago I can categorically say it is not EASY. I am not only petrified of flying, but was at the whim of when an air ambulance was available. Because it was so busy they were going to attempt to move me to Aberdeen by ambulance in the first instance, until the consultant in Wick said that was extremely unacceptable for someone in the midst of a major heart attack to travel for a minimum 6 hour trip (due to legal breaks) in an Ambulance. Having surgery in Inverness may have made this proposition a little more bearable if not ideal. Maybe being airlifted isn't something you have had to endure??

    In addition being 5 hours by road away from home, your family and friends at such a distressing time is absolutely horrendous, as it is so difficult for them to get to Aberdeen to visit, never mind the immense pressure that is put on them through worry for you.

    Finally, although you may be airlifted to Aberdeen, you also have to get home again. I was told it would take 2 days following discharge for them to arrange patient transport back to Caithness, so inevitably you either fend for yourself or a family member has to make a 10 hour round trip to help you out. Not only is that unacceptable, but they are also extremely keen to tell you not to travel for long distances after a heart attack. I don't know about you but I found a 5 hour trip back to Caithness extremely stressful when I was, and still am, feeling far from 100%.

    I would suggest you think, before engaging your fingers to type!!!!!!

  14. #114
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    Quote Originally Posted by Oddquine View Post
    They weren't actually banned, you know...........they were simply not invited to the meeting, because it was not a public meeting, but one to ascertain the situation within NHS Highland regarding CGH. The time for a public meeting would have been if, after that private meeting, the intentions of NHS Highland had been to permanently downgrade CGH surgical capacity or whatever. Government ministers undertake private meetings all the time.and then inform the press of what was discussed and any decisions made..and I suspect that was the intentions of the Councillors. Do people really expect to attend all meetings in which their councillors' participate, regardless of the reason for the meeting? After all, if the meeting was secret, they'd not have tweeted/put on FB that it was happening. Going by some comments on this thread, the meeting would not have been disrupted........as it would never have got past the temporary "no surgical cover over evenings and weekends" forced on NHS Highland by recruitment problems.

    To be fair, you do kinda need a consultant anaesthetist if you have a surgical facility...and the BMJ jobs does have an advert for one for Wick....which rather shows that they do not intend to downgrade the surgical side.

    I prefer the word punters to the term stakeholders, but they mean the same.....sorry if you don't like it. I have no problem with being thought of as a punter..after all, it's just a colloquial term for a customer(or in Australia, a voter).......as opposed to the politically correct stakeholder.....or the really irritating "client".

    You still have emergency surgery "on demand"......just not in the place you would all like to have it. After all, that is why the Air Ambulance exists, because of the fact that hospitals in sparsely populated rural areas cannot justify, cost-wise, particularly in the current economic climate, a full hospital facility. The main problem with being in a hospital out of your own local area is difficulty for visitors in getting there....not in the patient getting there....as I found when I was in CGH.

    You don't have to live North of Aberdeen to have to go to Aberdeen for surgery, and you don't have to live North of Inverness to have to travel for treatment, depending on the speciality needed. Heck, I had to spend a month in Inverness a decade or three ago just to have three simple tests, despite there being two local hospitals within 12 miles.....and the cost and scope of health services and expectations as to treatment entitlement has increased exponentially since then.

    Living in a rural community has its drawbacks as well as its benefits. If you go by the NHS Highland Workforce plan for 2104-2015,
    http://www.nhshighland.scot.nhs.uk/Meetings/BoardsMeetings/Documents/Board Meeting 12 August 2014/4.3 Workforce Plan 2014-15.pdf
    punters in Highland live longer than the Scottish average, and have less "premature" deaths, so more live beyond the age of 75.....but that in itself brings pressures on health services, with the percentage of over 65s in Highland being 2% higher than in Scotland as a whole. It does give some idea of the problems faced by the Health Board regarding recruitment..though I'm not convinced that there is a lot they can do to attract permanent staff.
    Oddquine there are so many inaccuracies and false assumptions in your post starting with the very first sentence that, frankly, I cannot muster enough energy to reply. I hope that should you be in Caithness soon, and need an immediate and life-saving emergency operation out of hours, that there will be someone on duty locally (highly unlikely) to try and save your life. Now I'm going to sit down in front of the TV and watch The Voice ( something that our political representatives and NHS Highland don't like us to have just now!).

  15. #115

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    totally agree with you WEEKER2014 the hns has put no thought into this at all its ok for them to day they will tranfer you to another hospital but they have not thought how you are getting home not every one has freinds or family that can drop every thing to fetch you aberdeen or the money what happens if youy are on the bread line and every penny counts and have no spare for travel expenses

  16. #116

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    I have been following this thread for ages and had decided no I wont take part however Im now wading in along with others


    Quote Originally Posted by Oddquine View Post
    On reading the tone of some of the posts on this thread, I suspect, if the meeting had been public, there would have been little to no time spent, by punters at the meeting, on listening to and trying to understand the recruitment and funding problems faced by Highland Health Board, and even less time spent on any effort to come up with alternative useful temporary plans to cope with a real recruitment problem
    I have taken the time to highlight in red where i feel you have gone wrong in this part of your statement . This is a massive assumption of what may or may not have happened.

    Quote Originally Posted by Oddquine View Post
    outwith the control of NHS Highland
    I struggle to agree with this.

    Quote Originally Posted by Oddquine View Post
    I suspect it is unlikely that the punter attending a public meeting would have been offering useful ideas to HHB as to how they can actually persuade surgeons to leave other jobs, and places where they are already settled, for a permanent position in what is perceived, by many south of Perth, the bahookey end of nowhere,
    Highlighted for you another assumption.

    Quote Originally Posted by Oddquine View Post
    I'd have thought that planned surgery between the hours of 8am and 6pm on weekdays would be pretty much the norm in most hospitals in which there is only one consultant surgeon. on staff, (and a pretty good one if my experience in 2012 is anything to go by.)
    You could have finished that statement at most hospitals as that would be the case. Its not just a case of mopping the floor and cleaning that's involved with patients for planned surgery many other services labs (bloods) pharmacy ( discharge prescritions ) etc.

    Quote Originally Posted by Oddquine View Post
    People...instead of carping....how's about some ideas? Just how do you think that NHS Highland can encourage people to come to Caithness (or even Raigmore) from elsewhere, in an austerity economy which does not allow the carrot of really silly money salaries.
    You have asked for suggestions but in the same sentence vetoed one which has already been given stating...... austerity ?? Without knowing how salaries are calculated according to sessions worked per week by Consultants, sessions on call etc which definitely reflects in salaries we cannot dismiss salaries and raising them.


    Quote Originally Posted by Oddquine View Post
    Out of interest only, do any of you know how many born and brought up in Caithness, and who have gone on to get medical, or medically associated degrees, have come home after qualifying to care for their own, rather than stay away and care for others?
    And what has that got to do with the issue at hand are you insinuating that local born and bread would be welcome home with open arms as its thought they will stay? Management in Caithness General have to, after advertising the job recruit the best person for the job not the local graduate returned. To date very few local people have left this area to graduate in either a medical or a medical associated degree. This is down to a number of factors which is another debate. And some who have gained a medically associated degree wishing to return home are having to work elsewhere ( I am aware of one such person desperate to return to this area). Why some people may ask when this hospital seems to struggle to recruit in many areas.



    Quote Originally Posted by Oddquine View Post
    They weren't actually banned, you know...........they were simply not invited to the meeting, because it was not a public meeting, but one to ascertain the situation within NHS Highland regarding CGH.
    Maybe this should have been made clearer to everyone when it was decided to request this meeting by the councillors was this not done at a meeting attended by the press then this would have saved the issue coming up.

    Quote Originally Posted by Oddquine View Post
    The time for a public meeting would have been if, after that private meeting, the intentions of NHS Highland had been to permanently downgrade CGH surgical capacity or whatever. Government ministers undertake private meetings all the time.and then inform the press of what was discussed and any decisions made..and I suspect that was the intentions of the Councillors. Do people really expect to attend all meetings in which their councillors' participate, regardless of the reason for the meeting? After all, if the meeting was secret, they'd not have tweeted/put on FB that it was happening. Going by some comments on this thread, the meeting would not have been disrupted........
    I don't think so however this is my personal opinion. Press as lets face it its just the press who were asked to leave have often attended meetings( i have witnessed this ) and been asked to show discretion and not report something and they have complied. Of course people dont expect to attend all meetings in which Councillors participate however thi issue is of massive public concern and everyone has to work with the public to bring them on board with whats happening or not as the case may be.

    Quote Originally Posted by Oddquine View Post
    as it would never have got past the temporary "no surgical cover over evenings and weekends" forced on NHS Highland by recruitment problems.
    This has NOT been FORCED on NHS Highland this has been the decision and the direction NHS highland have taken due to staffing problems.Up until now and indeed now as they have not stopped out of hours emergency surgery NHS Highland have been using locums whether they be long term or short but they have been able to get them. They have been working for many months with only two permenant Consultants and at times one also they have been using locums. They have known for a long time that one of the Consultants has been due to retire.

    Quote Originally Posted by Oddquine View Post
    To be fair, you do kinda need a consultant anesthetist if you have a surgical facility...and the BMJ jobs does have an advert for one for Wick....which rather shows that they do not intend to downgrade the surgical side.
    Wrong In Caithness General they have three consultants in each department and given that an anesthetist resigned leaving only two they had to recruit. One of the two remaining Consultants has other commitments so that leaves only one kinda holding the fort nothing to do with downgrading or not.... again they cannot operate with only one full time anesthetist covering.


    Quote Originally Posted by Oddquine View Post
    Living in a rural community has its drawbacks as well as its benefits. If you go by the NHS Highland Workforce plan for 2104-2015,
    http://www.nhshighland.scot.nhs.uk/Meetings/BoardsMeetings/Documents/Board Meeting 12 August 2014/4.3 Workforce Plan 2014-15.pdf
    punters in Highland live longer than the Scottish average, and have less "premature" deaths, so more live beyond the age of 75.....but that in itself brings pressures on health services, with the percentage of over 65s in Highland being 2% higher than in Scotland as a whole. It does give some idea of the problems faced by the Health Board regarding recruitment..though I'm not convinced that there is a lot they can do to attract permanent staff.
    Yes we do have many drawbacks living in a rural community however it also has many benefits.I dont get what your pointing at here linking our ageng population to recruitment unless you are suggesting that NHS Highland recruit more geriatricians. There is a heck of a lot more NHS Highland can do to recruit or attempt to recruit and until all avenues have been explored and exhausted then we the general public should expect no less than a service fit for purpose end off !

    Quote Originally Posted by Mother Superior View Post
    Oddquine there are so many inaccuracies and false assumptions in your post starting with the very first sentence that, frankly, I cannot muster enough energy to reply. I hope that should you be in Caithness soon, and need an immediate and life-saving emergency operation out of hours, that there will be someone on duty locally (highly unlikely) to try and save your life. Now I'm going to sit down in front of the TV and watch The Voice ( something that our political representatives and NHS Highland don't like us to have just now!).
    I felt i had to muster the enrgy on this one Ive been sitting back watching others reply but hey ho had to just pop in and point a few things out IMHO

    Quote Originally Posted by starfish View Post
    totally agree with you WEEKER2014 the hns has put no thought into this at all its ok for them to day they will tranfer you to another hospital but they have not thought how you are getting home not every one has freinds or family that can drop every thing to fetch you aberdeen or the money what happens if youy are on the bread line and every penny counts and have no spare for travel expenses
    I feel management here are practising reactive management rather than proactive management so wrong very, very, wrong.

    Weeker2014 I wish you a speedy and full recovery.

  17. #117

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    I would love to know if anyone has any ideas on how to recruit medical staff to areas like Caithness.
    The only suggestion I have seen is to make it part of the condition for gaining medical degree in Scotland that they work n years for the NHS. That though does not mean they would work for area's like ours. The NHS is having huge problems in getting medical staff to move to remote areas. This is not just a Scottish problem but a UK problem.

  18. #118

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    You might find that management HAVE been given ideas over the years and have taken few of them on board in fact they have downed a few as soon as they were given most for financial reasons. Much has to change to aid recruitment in this area and one suggestion would be managements approach would have to be the first change followed by their attitude. Ask staff on the floor their opinion of management its an eyeopener.

  19. #119

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    Alice, I was meaning on here, no one has posted any ideas on here

  20. #120

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    Quote Originally Posted by gerry4 View Post
    Alice, I was meaning on here, no one has posted any ideas on here
    lol whooosh moment.

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