Public meeting on out-of-hours services to be held in Harris

NHS Western Isles is set to hold a public meeting in Tarbert this month, to discuss the current pilot out-of-hours healthcare services in the area.

The meeting will take place on Tuesday January 27 at Sir E. Scott School, at 7pm, and all members of the local community are welcome to attend.

The pilot, which has been in place since October, covers patients registered with North Harris Medical Practice. Under new arrangements, Community Unscheduled Care Nurses (nurses with additional specialist training) are the first point of contact for patients who need a visit at their place of residence. This is the same model that serves patients across the length and breadth of Lewis.

If, for any reason, a patient requires the presence of a doctor, there is also a doctor available (based at Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway) to visit the patient at home. All mobile patients are asked to attend the dedicated out-of-hours facility in Stornoway, as is the case for all Lewis patients.

This has been a necessary step, as the GPs in North Harris have confirmed that they will no longer be available to cover the out-of-hours service for the patients of North Harris Practice after December 2014. All GPs have the choice of ‘opting out’ of providing out-of-hours services.

GPs in North Harris Medical Practice continue to provide services to patients during the day, and arrangements for emergency services with the Scottish Ambulance Service remain unchanged.

A report detailing feedback from service users will be available at the public meeting.

NHS Western Isles Medical Director, Dr Angus McKellar explained: “There are significant issues in terms of recruitment and retention of medical staff in all remote and rural areas of Scotland, and there are increasing numbers of GPs opting out of providing out-of-hours cover. This means that we have needed to consider less traditional models of care, as is the case with many other areas of Scotland. This is the reason for looking at advanced nursing roles and strengthening partnerships with Scottish Ambulance Service staff.

“Our Community Unscheduled Care Nurses are highly trained health professionals with a wealth of experience. I consider that this new service will strengthen and enhance the services provided to Harris patients. In particular, it enables the delivery of enhanced healthcare provision to patients within their own homes (that would only previously have been available to hospital inpatients) including, for example, the use of IV antibiotics.”