The workshop, held at the Dunollie Hotel in Broadford on Friday February 12, considered the findings of a public engagement exercise, which was carried out over a five-week period in September and October of last year to gather the views of local people.
And the priorities they identified will be used in the planning of future services for the area.
Those invited to attend the workshop included representatives of all community councils, Highland councillors, MPs and MSPs, locality and clinical staff, managers and representatives of partner organisations.
The public engagement exercise was undertaken by Highland Community Care Forum (HCCF), in partnership with Skye and Lochalsh Council for Voluntary Organisations (SLCVO), for NHS Highland’s Mid Highland Community Health Partnership (CHP).
And Shona Laidlaw and Maria Throp, of HCCF, told the meeting about the purpose of the exercise and its findings, which were very similar to the views expressed by those attending the workshop.
There was a strong feeling that local people still wished to see a new hospital built in Skye and Lochalsh, but Mid Highland CHP General Manager Gill McVicar told them this would not be possible for many years due to funding restraints.
The delegates said they still wanted work to continue on planning for this so it would be ready to go ahead when funding was available.
In the meantime, Mrs McVicar told them that there was no intention of closing either of the hospitals on Skye.
She said: “We are retaining two hospitals on the island as neither hospital is able to pick up the full role of both. They need to work together to make sure we have the services you want on Skye.”
Mrs McVicar also explained that Scottish Government health policy was strongly based on the need to shift some types of healthcare from hospital-based services to community services as it was better for people to receive their care at home or as close to home as possible whenever possible and this is what many patients say they want.
But she explained that to provide the services and treatments needed to support this, funding needed to be found from elsewhere as there was no additional money available to provide these services.
Kate Earnshaw, who is Clinical Services Development Manager for Skye, Lochalsh, Ross, Cromarty and West Ness, gave an outline of current services in the area and Mid Highland Community Health Partnership (CHP) Head of Finance, Tom Slavin, explained the financial situation.
He said the CHP had a total budget of £71million, of which £11.7million was allocated to Skye and Lochalsh. This will fall to £11.5million next year. He added that the CHP also had to find savings of just under £2million.
Mr Slavin pointed out that the financial situation being faced by Mid Highland CHP was not a local problem but was part of a Scotland wide problem.
Those taking part in the workshop then split up into groups to discuss the things they thought could be done differently in the provision of health services in the area to make better use of the available resources.
Suggestions included using telehealth to save patients needing to travel long distances for follow up appointments with consultants, a focus on early intervention and preventative services and more support for patients and their families to help them manage their conditions themselves.
They also wanted to see transport issues addressed, better integration between health and social care and improved communications across the agencies and to local communities.
After the event, Mrs McVicar said: “We are pleased that the workshop was well attended and provided an opportunity to hear a wide range of views and perspectives in one place at one time.
“We listened carefully to everything that was said and I believe that we now have a shared understanding that we cannot keep doing the same things.
“We need to look at all the services we have to ensure that we make the most effective use of them and get the best possible value for money. It is important that we focus on the needs of the population and plan accordingly.
“The dialogue with local people will continue. We are going to have to make some difficult decisions and we want their help in making these decisions.”
