Highland MSP Edward Mountain calls for medical trauma response team to be saved
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Mr Mountain has said lives should not be put at risk amid concerns about reducing service times for a “pioneering” trauma service.
The Conservative’s call came after 30 health professionals wrote an open letter to NHS Highland asking it to rethink its use of funding for emergency care.
The Pre-Hospital Immediate Care and Trauma (PICT) team is facing a reduction in coverage from seven to four days a week after NHS Highland declined to increase funding for the service, the majority of which currently comes from a national scheme.
PICT has been credited with reducing hospital admissions and the need for any who do have to be admitted to be processed through accident and emergency patients as well as reducing demand on the ambulance service.
Mr Mountain said: “It has taken a lot of courage for these 30 health professionals involved in the PICT service to come forward and put their names to an open letter.
“They are deeply alarmed at NHS Highland’s funding cut for PICT and rightly so.
“Lives should not be put at risk by reducing the life-saving PICT service down to four days.
“When concerns were first raised with me by constituents and those involved in the service, I raised the matter urgently with NHS Highland and called on them to reconsider the funding cut.
“I have still yet to receive a satisfactory response from the health board and so I have now taken this issue forward to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care.
“This pioneering service is essential when responding to major trauma incidents across the Highlands – we simply cannot afford to lose it.”
Mr Mountain has launched a campaign to save PICT and has called on health secretary Humza Yousaf to step in and secure its future.
An NHS Highland spokesman said: “We are keen to work with the clinicians to seek a resolution to the concerns they have raised, and the future service model will be based on the best outcomes for our patients and service users.
“This will deliver safe service models for emergency medicine to ensure patients and services are safe, effective and optimise care to all trauma patients.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Four Major Trauma Centres helping our most severely injured patients have the best chance of a speedy recovery are now operational in line with the commitment from Scottish ministers to introduce a bespoke Scottish Trauma Network (STN).
“Ministers expect the STN and trauma regions to prioritise funding to meet remaining targets for implementation, including PICT services.
“PICT is a key part of a fully joined-up STN service that enables an equitable approach for pre-hospital care across the whole of Scotland. The STN continues to provide funding for the full-time service through Scottish Government investment. We have committed £100 million over the past five years and more than £38 million in this year alone.”
