NHS Highland board welcomes 'progress'
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Despite that “cloud”, chairman David Alston maintained that the meeting had been a success, saying that a number of “weighty” proposals had been adopted.
New chief executive Iain Stewart attended before he officially takes over full-time and heard for himself some of the latest developments.
Among them were issues related to alleged bullying at NHS Highlands, which is currently the subject of an independent review led by QC John Sturrock. Other issues included a projected £18 million overspend.
Mr Alston said: “We made [a] crucial decision about moving forward at pace to improve our financial position while other stuff has to come back to board about what powers we are delegating.
“The really important thing is that we listen and learn from John Sturrock’s review, we are very lucky to have someone of his calibre engaged in this work – so we need to make use of that.
“The board meeting was an interesting example of how by working together we can make progress. What you heard today was huge forward steps taken in getting a common view in Caithness about the redesign of services. It was a joyful moment. Our most pressing need is to focus on the finance and bring us back into financial balance.”
There was good news as well with Caithness redesign proposals aimed at repairing NHS Highland’s relations with people in the far north and which were unanimously passed to the next stage for further development.
Highland councillor Deirdre Mackay, who sits on the board as a non executive director, praised the consultation process and commended the work of those involved. She said: “This was arguably the most intensive NHS public consultation carried out in Scotland but what I witnessed was the difference between consultation and engagement, and the difference is distinct, consultation can be distant and dry but it ‘ticks the box’.
“This process has not stopped as we see from the issues still being considered and the importance of this level of engagement cannot be underestimated.”
Also on the agenda was the adoption of the patient-centred “realistic medicine” approach devised by the Scottish Government which it believes improves care and cuts costs.
