Community looks forward to surgery re-opening

“As the Advertiser has previously reported, Furnace surgery has been cleaned by our patient participation group which also assisted with the setting up of the new furniture.”

There remain, however, issues with the building that have precluded it from opening fully.

To deal with the remaining concerns, a meeting was held last week between NHS Highland’s estates department and the patient participation group at Furnace surgery.  

Chairperson of the Furnace and Inveraray patient participation group Mark Boston said: “We met on-site to discuss remaining building maintenance items that required attention.

“The meeting proved very productive by identifying and agreeing the outstanding areas remaining to be resolved before the building can once again be fully used.”

Dr Coull detailed what needs to be done to bring the building up to standard.

“Seeing test patients has allowed us to identify some minor repairs and upgrades that are required before we can start using the Furnace surgery for general patients,” he said.

“Those are that the external lights require upgrading. This is more of an issue now the clocks have gone back, and we are confident the health board estates department will have them up and running properly quite quickly.

“Also, the car park surface is very slippery due to not having been used for some time and will require cleaning. We are looking into options to get this work done with the health board and with the patient participation group. 

“The other main issue is that we still don’t have internet or telephones working in the practice, although we have had Openreach and our telecoms suppliers out, and we are hopeful we will have connections shortly.

“Once these issues have been dealt with, we will be able to start clinics in the Furnace surgery for patients who want to be seen there.”

Dr Coull and his team are also making longer term plans to develop the extra space in Furnace for additional clinics that could cover areas such as talking therapy, mental health, neurodiversity, women’s health, podiatry, pharmacy, link workers and physiotherapy.

In the meantime, the GP is keen to express his thanks to the local community for all it has done to facilitate the refurbishment of the surgery.

“I want to emphasise that, while we are working hard as a practice to get the clinic working, we would not be here at all were it not for the excellent work of the Furnace and Inveraray patient participation group and the Furnace community council,” he said.

“It’s also important to thank the health board estates department for their sterling work in maintaining the Furnace surgery in such a good state over its long period of being closed.”