Thousands of postcards from members of the public protesting about health services moving from Caithness to Inverness have been gathered by a pressure group.
The postcards carry the slogan “100 miles too far” in reference to the 100-mile journey patients frequently have to travel to receive care.
Caithness Health Action Team (Chat) has collected 2,410 cards on which local people have shared their own healthcare stories and proted against any further downgrades to hospital services.
Around 90% of maternity patients now give birth in Inverness, and many mothers are making the journey down the A9 without an ambulance, while in labour.
Chat is sending a first batch of 1,000 postcards to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, and is inviting Cabinet Secretary Shona Robison to travel to Caithness for a meeting, where she can accept the remaining 1,410 in person.
Chat chairman Bill Fernie said: “Between the recent maternity downgrade, the scandalous number of patients making a 200-plus mile round trip for five minute appointments and now the bed review, there’s a real sense that healthcare is being centralised and Caithness in particular will feel the brunt of NHS Highland’s budget cuts.”
David Alston, chairman of NHS Highland said that the NHS and local politicians share a common goal of reducing the number of people travelling from Caithness for appointments. He said: “The key to is changing the way we do consultations, using video conferencing, telephone and other technologies.”
The Scottish Ambulance Service said it is recruiting five additional paramedics and four technicians,
A Scottish Government spokesman said it was right that health boards keep services under review and added: “We are aware of the board’s on-going work to develop long term, sustainable and safe services in Caithness General Hospital as well as the wider Caithness area and it is important the local people make their views known to the board.”
