Hopes of making NHS Highlands signs bilingual with Gaelic alongside English are rejected because the matter can only be decided at the ministerial level

NHS Highland’s Gaelic plan has had “little opportunity to progress in a meaningful way” in the last year while hopes that signs could be made bilingual with both English and Gaelic have been dashed.

The Gaelic plan is overseen by Bòrd na Gàidhlig whose staff have been “very understanding of the difficulties” as the pandemic severely disrupted services while there has been a turnover of staff which together “stifled progress”.

There was good news with the appointment of dedicated officer Nicola Thomson to try and implement some of the key areas of the plan – its priorities being in usage and patient-staff interaction as well as visibility.

Ms Thomson said: “Staff at Bòrd na Gàidhlig are very understanding of the difficulties both during the last year and the staffing changes which have stifled progress. The team are encouraged at the appointment of a dedicated person to try and implement some of the key areas of the plan and their priorities are in usage and patient/staff interaction as well as visibility.

“The request to provide a bilingual logo has been denied. It is hoped that this can be taken up again with NHS Scotland as such a visible change would provide the very necessary kickstart that the plan requires.”

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