Campaigners on Skye are celebrating after health professionals recommended healthcare at Portree Hospital should be significantly enhanced.
Sir Lewis Ritchie, who led a major review of health provision in Skye, has seen his recommendation for the out-of-hours (OOH) service to be provided on a 24/7 basis accepted yesterday by NHS Highland.
Professor Ritchie, who also proposed retaining in-patient care and increasing ambulance cover, said: “What has happened before has not worked, and that is reflected in my recommendations.
“We must do this with resolve and most importantly work together to get the best health provision to make this a centre of excellence, a beacon of excellence, which will be followed across the country.
“We need to move forward in a way that has not been done before.
“One of the major recommendations is to retain and enhance out of hours at Portree Hospital. That will be done in new ways and working with the ambulance service, NHS 24 and the staff of NHS Highland. I hope to turn around the situation here.
“This area will become a centre of excellence for delivering robust and new models for health care. We aim to be a beacon of excellence in training healthcare staff.”
Sir Lewis delivered his recommendations on a visit to Skye yesterday and they were immediately accepted in full by NHS Highland.
He added: “The aim is to make this a very attractive place to stay and work. People who are trained in an area are more likely to remain in that area.”
The report was commissioned by NHS Highland after numerous concerns were raised by people living in North Skye as to the provision of services in the area when the new Broadford Hospital opens.
These worries were compounded by the temporary withdrawal of OOH cover on several occasions over the past Festive season.
In response to this pressure and that of a strong public campaign, a report was instigated under the leadership of Sir Lewis Ritchie, who yesterday revealed the results.
SOS Skye chairwoman Catriona MacDonald said: “We are absolutely delighted. There is a huge sigh of relief that at last this community has been heard.
“The findings are a complete vindication of our fight to stop healthcare provision being cut.
“It is fantastic he has recommended out-of-hours urgent care should be provided 24/7 and that there should be no closure of Portree Hospital and that in-patient beds must continue.
“After years of being ignored by NHS Highland we are delighted to have been listened to at last by honest brokers.”
NHS Highland chairman David Alston, who commissioned the review, confirmed the board would fully accept the recommendations and would now look at the “financial implications” of delivering them.
He said: “Our priority has always been to provide safe and sustainable services, and I regret that we have not always been able to take the public with us.
“We have to learn from that experience and use the opportunity presented by this report to rebuild trust with the communities.
“Going forward we will all have to take a different approach, an approach that enables people providing and people receiving services to share power and responsibility.”
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “I am pleased that NHS Highland have accepted every recommendation and I expect them deliver on these in full. I have asked Sir Lewis to return in six months to review progress.”
Skye MSP Kate Forbes added: “I hope this report is the light at the end of the tunnel for campaigners and local residents who have been worried and concerned about the future of Portree Hospital.
“The most important recommendation for me is that Portree Hospital remains open in order to ensure fair and equitable health care across Skye.”
Labour MSP Rhoda Grant said: “The findings are a vindication for all those who have campaigned to maintain services in Portree and shows what people power can do.
“NHS Highland now needs to take serious note and repair relationships with the community and work together to provide the health services that are needed.”
In 2015 he chaired the National Review of Primary Care Out-of-Hours Services in 2015 for the Scottish Government.
Sir Lewis is the James Mackenzie Professor of General Practice at the University of Aberdeen.