Tuesday 14 February 2012

District Nurses- Letter

Residents of West Ardnamurchan may wish to read a comment on the letter received from NHS Highland and the Scottish Ambulance Service today. It's here.

11 comments:

  1. Seems they have gone ahead any way. If they are using an Action Learning then what is the timescale for the cycle of learning which should result in changes to the service and dare I ask if there will be User input to the learning process?

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  2. Just what is the matter with NHS/SAS? The community made a perfectly reasonable request at a very well-attended public meeting a week ago: we asked to see the service model that SAS/NHS are offering us, in detail and in writing.

    As Nicola Sturgeon herself says, we all are part owners of the NHS (of which SAS is a component). Our taxes pay NHS/SAS wages.
    We have a legal right to be involved in the consultation process; if we do not receive the information we asked for, this is being denied us. We can't possibly form an opinion from the vague assurances and personal references that are all we have seen so far.

    WHY will NHS/SAS not do what the community asks?
    WHAT have they got to hide?

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  3. If you haven't seen the NHSH/SAS letter and want to, it's available for download on the WANI site - the link to the site is in the right hand column of this blog.

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    1. Jon neither I nor any of the other Achnaha residents have received this letter.!!! Are they not supposed to be sent to all households.
      Regards
      Mairi

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  4. New proposals just a con to get first responders back. The new nurse wants to live here, new Ambulance man wants to live here. But when???? Jessie retires NEXT WEEK!!!!

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  5. None of the Achnaha residents have received the letter. should it not have been sent to all residents !!

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  6. I think it very clear the kilchoan community are crazy!!!! If they are very I'll, dying or in need of nursing support!! It is clear as the rest of ardnamuchan currently does they will recive it!! If however they have minor first aid complaints!!!! Or indeed are the 'walking well' then the should go to there GP like the rest of scotland does.

    Yes you may have to get in your car and drive, yes you might have to phone and make your own appointment! And yes you might have to start taking some small responsibility for your own health..... Rather than being spoon feed!!!

    Why don't the kilchoan population just try what is being proposed, rather than wasting tax payers money on all these meetings with both politicians and nhs managers. I think it is fair to say even people in kilchoan are sick of the narrow minded bullying tactics being carried out by some members of the community council, with regards this matter!!

    The rest of the ardnamuchan, lochaber and most of Scotland are sick of hearing why kilchoan is so special in terms of health needs!! The only thing that is special is it is out of date, lost touch and clearly it's populalation higher percentage of emergencys than the rest of remote and rural Scotland!!

    Look forward to the battle of the ferry service at least that will give kilchoan cc something else to focus on for a change!!!

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    1. Here, here,
      Where about in Scotland do DN's provide 24/7 care, emergency response and the long list of spectacular skills that this community are requesting.

      Welcome to the real world people, Welcome!

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  7. I do not know where you live in Ardnamurchan - or even if you do live there - but please remember that people in Strontian have nurses, an ambulance and paradmedics based in their village, and people in Acharacle have a GP surgery and nurses. That means that people in both Strontian and Acharacle have proper, professional health care, 24/7, close at hand.

    We in West Ardnamurchan are only asking for health care to match that offered elsewhere in on the peninsula. How do you think it is "clear" that life-saving emergency care can be provided when, for a good part of the day and night, there might be no NHS/SAS professional closer than 50 minutes away, and more likely, well over an hour? It's physically impossible.

    You mention driving: some people here do not have cars, some people do not drive. And what if - as happened not long ago - a person living alone and in a remote place collapses? They can't drive themselves anywhere. If they're unconscious, it could be very dangerous to move them - and, anyway, how would well-meaning neighbours get them into a car? In the past, our nurses have saved many lives that might well have been lost if we had had to wait for a GP or an ambulance. THAT is why we are worried.

    In West Ardnamurchan, if SAS/NHS plans go ahead, we will have one full-time and one part-time nurse, but they will only definitely be in Kilchoan for a while on Mondays to Fridays; after that, they may be called to work in Acharacle, Strontian or elsewhere. It is not guaranteed that they will provide emergency cover at evenings or weekends, although the replacement nurse has said that she is interested in doing so. But she can't be on call all the time.

    The ambulance Technician proposed recently by the SAS is a step in the right direction. However, again according to the SAS, he or she will regularly have to work away in Fort William, and then spend further time training as a paramedic, which SAS say he wants to do. So he'll no doubt be a great help when he's here, but what happens when he isn't?

    The West Ardnamurchan community has repeatedly said it is willing to help itself; but the Emergency Responders proposed by the NHS/SAS will not be able - or allowed - to do several of the life-saving things that a nurse or ambulance technician or paramedic can. They can help, but not replace, professionals.

    As for bullying tactics, I am just an ordinary resident of West Ardnamurchan. I am not a member of the Community Council, and never have been. I have never been bullied by the WACC, and no-one else I have met in the past 14 months of this nurses' dispute has ever said that they felt bullied, either.

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  8. As an outsider, it seems to me sinister that the proposals are, as John Haylett has pointed out, not to set definite posts to be appointed. However remote any community is, they deserve to know exactly what services they are going to receive. (And of course,what they are paying for with their taxes).

    I've had many happy holidays in the area without having to use the health service; last year we did need the Doctors/District Nurses and they were wonderful. If I lived in the area I am sure I would not need to be bullied to support the campaign.

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  9. See this article from the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-17063800

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