Tribute to long-serving Highland GP Dr Shina Grant, a Free Church of Scotland and Church of Scotland member pivotal in promoting men’s health issues in Inverness and the Lochaber area
A long-serving and devoted Highland GP who was “ahead of her time” in promoting men’s health issues in Inverness is being remembered warmly by family and friends.
Dr Shina Grant, initially a member of the Free Church of Scotland and then for many years the Church of Scotland, served in Lochaber prior to ‘retiring’ - in theory at least - to Inverness with late husband Murdo Grant in 2007.
Having been a highly-active, energetic, community minded GP in a single-handed practice in Arisaig, she picked up where she left off in Inverness.
After joining Ness Bank Church in Inverness, she became a driving force within a now superseded organisation called Men’s Health Highland.
Recognising the severity of physical and mental health issues among Highland men, something close to Dr Shina’s heart, the group served as a driver in the formation of a variety of other groups.
With a passion for helping others and a refusal to waste a moment in contributing to the common good, she was renowned for going the extra mile in helping local people in the communities she worked in - Kinlochleven, Ballachulish, Fort William, Mallaig and Arisaig, the latter for the best part of 20 years.
Always, her endeavours went far beyond routine obligations at her medical practices. It was a conviction of hers that not a moment should be wasted in service to church and community.
Dr Shina, as she was known to a great many in the Highlands, died “gently and peacefully” in the care of Highland Hospice on July 13 this year aged 84.
She is survived by daughters Eilidh and Ishbel, her beloved grandchildren James, Martha, Hazel, Maeve and Fraser and a broad network of other family and friends.
Recalling her mum’s formidable character, but also her warmth and instinctive kindness, daughter Eilidh cast light on her later involvement with Men’s Health Highland in Inverness.
A fellow Ness Bank Church member, retired GP Dr Trevor Escott, who died in 2018, encouraged her to get involved.
“In retirement, mum moved from Arisaig to Inverness after 16 or 17 years of service there, with her late husband Murdo who had established a storage firm down at Shore Street not long before they got together,” Eilidh recalled.
“Mum became involved in Men’s Health Highland, a voluntary organisation, after she moved to Inverness in 2007.
“Whether in formal or community settings, she certainly wasn’t afraid of speaking up when she felt there were things that could be done better!
“She was also a great advocate of doing what she believed was right and in encouraging others to make the best contribution they could within their abilities. This extended into contributions church organisations could make in their communities to have the widest possible reach.
“It was from there, she met Dr Trevor and got involved. She had done similar work previously with Lochaber Health For All in the 1990s when she was working in Arisaig as the village GP. She would go along to the Alcan Factory in Fort William, where it was based, on her day off.
“Her view was she could, and should be involved because she understood the issues in rural communities well.
“It was a passion for her. It was all about the idea of service, with ‘service’ being an active word for her.
“That could be checking people’s blood pressure in the Eastgate Shopping Centre or volunteering to provide medical care to communities living in severe poverty in the Amazon area of South America.
“Fundamentally, she believed you needed to use the skills you had, to the best of your ability, to help others who were not in a position to help themselves.
“She never really stopped working, even in retirement.
“Men’s Health Highland was all about building awareness and talking about men’s health issues at a time when that was far less common.
“As kids growing up in the rural west coast, we were quite aware of men’s mental health issues, particularly as she was often the first port of call with marginalised individuals.
“I remember her just being so careful and respectful around them.
“Looking back, we would be very aware of her role as a single-handed GP placing here in unpredictable, sometimes rowdy situations that would have tested many people.
She was always very adept at dealing with them in a calm and compassionate fashion. She was often the only woman working alongside the emergency services team, and I think that brought a different dynamic to her work.
“Men’s Health Highland were quite successful in bringing these issues to attention, with talks in council chambers to build awareness and knowledge about common health issues.
“It pre-dated the Men’s Shed, Mikeysline and a lot of other very good work that followed.
“She was a bit ahead of her time in that regard.”
Born in 1940 near Fort William, Dr Shina Ann Grant – maiden name MacDonald – chose to study medicine at Aberdeen University where she found her feet in the clinical undergraduate years.
While she brought empathy and diligence to her calling, she always hated the smell of formaldehyde and had to overcome the trauma of anatomical dissection.
She became actively involved in the Free Church of Scotland in Aberdeen and in the wider Christian student community, making lifelong friends there.
Reserved and unassuming, she was adept at putting others at ease, with natural people skills that would serve her well in her life and career.
After graduating in 1967, she spent her first postgraduate year in Aberdeen Hospitals, completing GP training in a medical practice in Crieff, Perthshire before deciding in 1970 to join her brother in Canada.
There she moved to Orillia, a rural farming town north of Toronto, where she worked with a GP who was also an MP in the Canadian Parliament.
Rural practice suited her and, on her return to Scotland, she became initially a locum GP before becoming the single-handed GP in Kinlochleven. With a non-existent off duty rota, she was perpetually on call, both for her patients and the employees at the British Aluminium factory smelter in the village.
Shina met her first husband, James, while working there and they were married in 1977.
In 1989, the family moved to Arisaig following Shina’s appointment to the single-handed practice there. The wide geographical area was challenging and popularity as a tourist destination meant the population could easily double in summer months.
She coped admirably, also caring for James at home until he died in 1996 while raising their girls.
Colleagues from this time have since remarked that “What would Shina do?” became a frequent reflection in her absence, and then later in their own careers when faced with difficult decisions.
Cross cover with the neighbouring practice in Mallaig brought RNLI lifeboat trips to the otherwise inaccessible Knoydart, with Shina’s poor ‘sea legs’ making these trips a challenge. In tune with her stoic nature and Christian faith, she proved resilient through all these challenges.
While a certain professional distance had to be retained with locals as her patients, Eilidh recalled: “A big connection she had with patients came through baking.
“She would trade recipes and, while I don’t know if it was an intentional act, it created a common bond since, as local doctor, community friendships had to have a bit of distance to keep professional boundaries intact. Baking gave her such a common ground with others.
Soon after retirement in 2006, Shina hugely enjoyed a medical volunteering expedition with the Vine Trust on board Amazon Hope in Peru.
Shina married Murdo Grant, a longstanding acquaintance, in 2007 before they moved to Inverness.
Eilidh added: “They travelled widely over the following years, spending lots of time with family and friends. Murdo’s sudden death in March 2025 was a loss that Shina felt keenly as their many years together in later life brought them both great happiness following the loss of their first spouses.”
Shina was a committed member of Christian Medical Fellowship, regularly attending Scottish conferences and local activities in Inverness.
She had a longstanding interest in world Christian mission as an active member of Ness Bank Church in Inverness.
As her friend and minister, the Reverend Stuart Smith from Ness Bank summed up: “She supported Murdo at home as health declined, and bore his passing earlier this year with dignity and courage.
“And she kept herself busy right up to the end, indignant when her body refused to keep pace with her ambitions, but absolutely confident in life after death with Jesus, with the same Christian faith that devoted her to a lifetime of service of family, friends, the public, the church, her local community, but very rarely herself.”