Concerns have been raised over the lack of forewarning given to a Highland community around the appearance of a mobile Covid-19 testing unit.
The facility, run by the army, has appeared in Thurso for two weeks running without any prior notice.
And now doctors, community leaders and politicians have condemned the lack of communication about when the facility is coming to their area.
Members of the public first spotted the soldiers assembling the unit outside the fire station on Monday, May 4.
Dr Alison Brooks, of Thurso and Halkirk medical practice, said she welcomed news that the units were to be deployed throughout Scotland.
But she said the first she knew of the Thurso visit was when someone posted it on Facebook.
“We had no idea it was coming, no idea how long it was there for, we did not know who was eligible to be tested, we didn’t know how you go about referring people for testing, or do they refer themselves, we had no idea,” she said.
Dr Brooks added she had patients she would have liked to test, but by the time she had found out the criteria for testing and how to refer patients, the unit was gone.
She said: “I then found out it was back this Monday, which again no-one knew.”
Caithness MP Jamie Stone has written to health minister Jeane Freeman asking why the information wasn’t shared.
He said: “The fact that health workers and managers in the Highlands were not forewarned of the Army’s appearance means that in all likelihood the facility in Thurso was not used nearly as effectively as it might have been and public money is being wasted.”
Resident Alexander Glasgow said he spotted the unit by chance.
He said: “We never should have been in a position of running around in such disarray about this desperately needed service, phoning our GPs and e-mailing our representatives and searching social media with everyone just as perplexed.”
Councillor Struan Mackie added: “The last thing I want to see is the Department of Health and Social Care who are paying for it looking at the low take-up numbers and saying there’s no rationale to come back.”
The Scottish Government has been contacted for a response.
