Hospitals and health centres in the Highlands could soon be signposted in Gaelic as well as English.
Patient appointment cards and other information put out by NHS Highland would also be in bilingual format under plans being developed by the health authority.
But opponents yesterday condemned the idea as a waste of money and called on the health authority to take “a reality check”.
A Gaelic language consultant has just been hired to advise on what action the health board needs to take.
NHS Highland was one of the batch of public bodies identified in December by Gaelic language agency Bord na Gaidhlig as requiring to prepare a Gaelic language plan.
The board is working to have a policy in force by the spring of next year.
A NHS Highland spokes-woman said: “The consultant is undertaking various fact-finding exercises to establish our current Gaelic language provision in terms of publications, patient information and staff knowledge and skills in the language.
“A draft policy will be prepared by August 2009 which will be discussed by the board before being subject to a period of public consultation.” The spokeswoman said the consultant is being funded by Bord na Gaidhlig and the exercise has so far not cost NHS Highland anything.
So far, it has received £74,800 from the Gaelic promotional quango, which has powers under the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 to require public bodies to prepare a Gaelic language plan.
The initiative was yesterday deplored by Caithness Highland councillor John Rosie, a former member of the health authority, and a fierce critic of Highland Council’s bilingual policy.
He said: “Putting up Gaelic signs and producing bilingual literature is not going to help one bit.
“Someone really should take a reality check and put a stop to this nonsense and madness.”
He claimed public money and the resources of managers in both the council and cash-strapped health authority are being wasted.
Caithness and Northern Sutherland Health Forum chairman George Bruce said he planned writing to health board chairman Garry Coutts to protest about the bilingual moves.
He said he is also keen to find out how much money the board could end up spending to implement its policy.
Mr Bruce added: “I want to know what the likely cost will be to the population for the Highlands to introduce something that is patently not wanted by large sections of the community.”
He said that in many parts of the region, Gaelic speakers would be comfortably outnumbered by Poles. While there are no bilingual signs or publications, Gaels are catered for on NHS Highland’s website, which can be translated into a number of languages.
Bord na Gàidhlig spokes-man Hugh Dan Maclennan yesterday confirmed that NHS Highland has received funding to prepare a Gaelic language plan.
He said that the support is designed to get authorities Gaelic-friendly but that eventually they would bear the costs of implementing bilingual initiatives.