Patients waiting for surgery at Raigmore Hospital will soon be offered an appointment elsewhere to slash waiting times.
NHS Highland is desperately trying to ease the pressure by offering up surgeries at Caithness General Hospital in Wick, Belford Hospital in Fort William and Lorn and Islands Hospital in Oban.
While this will mean travel for patients, the health board hope it will reduce the wait for many in need.
However, it is has stressed that these appointments are optional – and that patients can choose to wait to be treated at Raigmore.
A spokeswoman said: “As we work our way through the backlog of high priority cancer and urgent operations that has built up as a result of the Covid pandemic, waiting times for some day case surgical procedures at Raigmore Hospital are much longer than we would like them to be.
“To help reduce the wait being experienced by our patients other hospital sites within NHS Highland will be offered as an option to patients in order to treat them more quickly.”
It shows a shift in direction for NHS Highland, as they try to move operations back to smaller hospitals rather than centralised at Raigmore.
Highlands and Islands MSP Edward Mountain welcomed the initiative and said: “Our local rural hospitals have a huge role to play in supporting NHS Highland to reduce long waiting lists and I welcome this step.
“I have called for this move for several years as it has been clear for a long time that centralising more and more treatment at Raigmore Hospital is not the way forward.”
‘Problem is for patients unable to move’
Raigmore Hospital, the biggest in the region, is at the centre of delivering advanced medical care and so the scheme offers a chance for other hospitals to carry out more surgeries.
Councillor David Gregg, from Inverness, said: “For those who can move it’s a solution but the problem is patients unable to move won’t be able to take advantage of this.
“There will be patients that decide this is worth it and hopefully, by allowing people that do have the option to get treated elsewhere, it will increase the number of people getting surgery overall.”
Mr Gregg also agreed community hospitals across the Highlands should be performing more day surgeries, which will attract more doctors to those areas
Assessments will be undertaken prior to a move
He added: “It is more convenient for the patients that live there, and it will attract more consultants to those areas.
“So if we can offer better services for patients locally to where they are, I
hope this isn’t just a temporary solution.”
The staff are currently working through its long list of cancer and urgent cases and therefore is slower with day-case surgical procedures.
Not all procedures will be able to be transferred, with some required to be done at Raigmore.
Dr Boyd Peters, medical director for NHS Highland, said: “All of our hospitals offer the same high levels of care and treatment for these procedures, and some will have much shorter waiting times than Raigmore.
“We know some people will have concerns about travelling for surgery, but I would like to reassure everyone that a clinical assessment will take place before any change of hospital.”
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