People living in the north of Skye have started a campaign to save their local hospital from being downgraded.
The Save Portree Hospital campaign on a social networking site received more than 1,500 likes in the first 24 hours and has now been liked by more than 2,300 people.
NHS Highland board members will next week be asked to approve a proposal for the main community resource centre and hospital for Skye to be in Broadford, with a smaller facility in Portree.
But many people in the north feel the main hospital should be in Portree.
Campaigner Sarah Marshall pointed out that some fellow campaigners had taken part in the consultation with NHS Highland, but many had been unaware of what was happening.
She said: “Although there has been consultation, as documented on the NHS website, many people have expressed their shock about the proposals.
“This reinforces the impression that the consultation was not as effective as thought in reaching people and communicating the proposals.”
And Councillor Drew Millar said: “There are a number of people who think the hospital should be in Portree and I can see their argument for that, as it is the main centre of population.
“However, I am more concerned about retaining health services on Skye and I see the location as secondary.”
A spokesman for the health board said: “NHS Highland is satisfied that the process we have pursued before, during and since the formal public consultation was designed to secure the maximum number of responses and, ultimately, a consensus on the way forward that best meets the needs of everyone in Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross.
“The entire redesign consultation process was endorsed by both the Scottish Health Council and Highland Health and Social Care Committee.
“A comprehensive report on the proposed redesign of services in Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross will be presented to the December 2 meeting of NHS Highland’s board.”
He added that the report gave details of the feedback received from the formal consultation process.
It also asks the board to endorse the recommendation in favour of the preferred option – to develop the main community resource centre and hospital in Broadford, with a smaller facility in Portree.
Members will be told that 2,273 people completed a survey as part of the public consultation into the proposed redesign of NHS Highland’s services in Skye, Lochalsh and South West Ross, with 2:1 in favour of Broadford as the location for the main facility.