Heather Grier said:
“In 2007 Strachur Medical Practice opted out of providing Out of Hours services and the Health Board was obliged to provide an alternative service for patients. A 3 year contract was awarded to the Kyles Medical Practice but in September 2010 that practice made the decision to also opt out as of March 2011. The Health Board again became responsible for providing the service to both communities and embarked on seeking an alternative solution.
“A working group was set up to develop options for the provision of the service for both communities and part of the process was to look at the benefits and costs as well as ensuring the public were fully involved. Community members and public representatives took a major part in this review and a preferred option was accepted by the Project Board. This was implemented as an interim measure until March 2012 as the Health Board planned to review the service for the whole of Cowal under the Scottish Government’s ‘Better Health, Better Care, Better Value’ strategy.
“The ‘Cowal 24/7 Group’, as it will be known, has just been set up to carry out this review and local GPs, NHS staff and public/community representatives will be involved in examining and developing all potential options for the provision of a fair, sustainable, efficient and value for money service for all service users. It will be really important that we seek and consider all points of view as part of this review.”
Dr Brian McLachlan added:
“The aim of this Group is to develop a long term plan for the future provision of GP out of hours services across Cowal and medical cover within Cowal Community Hospital. We have just started the planning stage of the process and have given ourselves a deadline of September 2012 to develop a service that we hope will be sustainable for many years to come.
“Throughout the whole process it is also important that we work closely with local communities and local health professionals across Cowal and that everyone is kept involved and informed along the way. As part of this public engagement strategy we also have strong public, community and GP representation on the Group and I look forward to working with everyone as we move forward with our plans.”
Notes to Editors: It is important to highlight that the current provision of Primary Care Services from local GP Practices does not from part of this review.
Heather Grier’s background is primarily in accounting with HR management and she operates as a business consultant working mainly in the private sector. She is also a fellow of the Institute of Directors and a member of the Chartered Institute of Management.
Dr Brian McLachlan is a Helensburgh based GP and has experience of providing an out of hours GP service in the community as well as providing GP services for the Vale of Leven Hospital. He is also the Clinical Lead for the Helensburgh & Lomond locality.
