Working together in the NHS

The news has spread far and wide and very quickly, and defensive positions have already started to be built.

Mr Coutts (Highland HB Chairman) said the move was nothing more than building a closer relationship between the two authorities and denied it would lead to a merger.

Which certainly isn't the take on it in the Western Isles.

He said: "Not even is it not on the agenda, it's specifically off the agenda. The minister has made that clear."

Which is why it is even more puzzling that the Health Minister didn't mention it in Barra - not even to very senior members of the local SNP.

NHS Highland chairman Gary Coutts said closer working with the Western Isles would allow them to share expertise in finance and human resources.

But this is the rub. At the moment the NHS is appointing "recruiting without advertising" key management staff who are flying in on Monday and back out on Friday. All of which adds to the deficit and appears to make the position much worse than it actually is.

The belief that there is no-one locally who can do the job is patronising in the extreme, and the Minister would do well to remember that the problems started when the (previous) Government starting parachuting people in.

As a senior individual in the Council succinctly put it, "These people have no interest in how the local NHS operates, as long as they do their job and get paid." There is no buy-in to the community that they are supposedly working for, and a series of temps produces a hugely unsatisfactory set-up on which to build for success.

And whilst the Minister may have taken merger of the agenda, I suspect the hands of civil servants guiding the strategy towards a major cost-saving exercise, as we share expertise in finance and HR by moving the jobs to Inverness.

It is nothing short of an attempt to remove the Board by stealth, over time, and is a slap in the face to those who worked long and hard to get independent control over health, all those years ago.

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Press Release from WINHS (to give the other 'official') view

A preliminary discussion took place at a recent meeting with the Chairs involved regarding the concept of strengthening partnership working between island and mainland Boards.

The Board Chairman responded on the basis that NHS Western Isles already has formal and informal partnership arrangements with a number of Boards. NHS Western Isles is currently also drawing on the support of a number of mainland Boards to bolster our capacity.

A commitment was made at Chair level to explore further how best these partnerships might be established and developed in practical ways in order to ensure that Western Isles Health Board remains an independent and sustainable entity, working in partnership with others.

The Cabinet Secretary reaffirmed on Tuesday (1st July), on her visit to Benbecula, that the Board would continue to exist in the Western Isles, and also acknowledged that the smaller island Boards needed to work in partnership with other Boards in order to develop and deliver safe and sustainable services to the populations they serve.

Contrary to the impression given by a so-called ‘health service insider’ in The Herald report today, the purpose of establishing stronger formal partnerships would be to strengthen the capacity in the Western Isles – not to dilute it.

As soon as any further details are available, these will be communicated widely.