Kilchoan Nurses

Many thanks to everyone for a fantastic - and imaginative - turnout at the demonstration last night. It proved how united this small community is.

Those who attended last night's public meeting will know that NHS Highland, the Scottish Ambulance Service and Highlands & Islands Fire & Rescue have finally got together and tabled a proposal for future emergency cover on the peninsula. The full text of their document is here.

The advert for a Nurse to replace our long-serving Jessie Colquhoun from February will not contain a stipulation that he/she must live on West Ardnamurchan. Carolyn Ellis, our other local nurse, will become part of the West Lochaber Nursing Team, so neither Nurse will necessarily be in the village during the day.

It is proposed that emergency cover will be in the hands of Co-Responders - members of our local Fire Service, the nurses, and others with medical experience who want to join. There seems little chance at present that anyone will want to become involved, partly because the SAS can give no assurances on how long a Co-Responder will have to deal with a casualty before back-up arrives. Worse, the fire team here have been threatened with the loss of their station if they don't join - see last line of the document.

The area therefore faces having no resident emergency cover as from the end of February.

There is a public meeting on 27th September at 7pm when NHSH, the SAS and the Fire people will address all West Ardnamurchan residents to explain their plans. We would like to feel that everyone will be there.

In order to prepare for that meeting, WACC needs two things -

A database of examples of emergencies which our Nurses have dealt with in the past - the sort of things which Co-Responders will face in the future. This is very important. Please send them to Joyce Hillard at joycehillard945@btinternet.com

Any questions you'd like to ask, in advance, so we can have an orderly meeting. Please send them to Jac Crosbie at jac.crosbie@gmail.com