Oban Times Letters to the Editor - 25.4.24

Back the Belford build 

We really want to encourage the people of Lochaber to write in support of the Back the Belford build. 

This is an extract from a letter Fergus Ewing MSP wrote to the community of Grantown on Spey who have been campaigning for the remainder of the contract for their Health Centre to be funded to completion:

“My thanks go...above all to the public who turned up at the meeting on 7th March and then wrote to the

Scottish Government and MSPs in order to demonstrate the strength of feeling locally. It was this huge turnout and massive response that plainly made a marked difference as Neil Gray mentioned to me he was acutely aware of the strong views and importance of the matter to the local community.” 

So you CAN make a difference! We know you already turned up in huge numbers at the rally but now go one step further.  

Please write to: Neil Gray MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Health, Scottish Government, St Andrews House, Edinburgh EH1 3DG CabSecFORNRHSC@gov.scot 

Sarah Compton-Bishop, Chairperson NHS Highland, Assynt House, Beechwood Park, Inverness IV2 3BW or nhshighland.board@nhs.scot

We need them to agree to fund the planning and the design work so that it can be ready for the building to start as soon as capital funds are released – we have waited too long already for a new Belford.
Michael Foxley, John Gillespie, John Hutchison, Patricia Jordan, David Sedgwick.

Open letter over health care 

Dear Neil Gray MSP – Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social  Care, Scotland’s A&E is in permanent crisis due to the SNP’s mismanagement. 

Waiting  times in Scotland’s A&E department remain unacceptably high, with the latest  statistics showing that five per cent of those attending had to wait 12 hours to either be  admitted, transferred or discharged. 

A&E waiting times have skyrocketed under  the SNP, putting thousands of lives at risk. Their inability to fix this mess has real consequences for Scotland’s most vulnerable. 

As the Cabinet Secretary for NHS  Recovery, Health and Social Care, you must take urgent action to address this  crisis and should start by adopting Scottish Assembly opposition proposals, which  would deliver a modern, efficient and local health service. 

My constituents are justifiably angry about this and are demanding an explanation  from the Scottish Assembly. 
Councillor Alastair Redman, Kintyre and the Islands ward.