The chief executive of NHS Highland has there are no plans to close Portree Hospital but stressed the local health authority does face challenges concerning future provision.

On Thursday, Radio Skye was informed through a community source that two full-time nurses at the Skye capital had handed in their notice.

Addressing the matter, Ms Dudek, who was in Skye on Thursday for the official opening of the Staffin health centre, told Radio Skye she had only recently been made aware of the situation.

However, she said there needed to be a balance in terms of past services and what was suitable for the future.

Here is Ms Dudek speaking on the matter…

https://www.mixcloud.com/RadioSkye/nhs-highland-ceo-pam-dudek-on-skye-staffing-challenges/

At present the urgent care centre in Portree Hospital is open from 9am to 6pm at weekends and bank holidays only.

Earlier this month a spokesperson for NHS Highland told Radio Skye that progress with the rural support team and urgent care centre would be review at the end of March and develop a develop a plan for how urgent care will be delivered by June 2023.

The spokesperson added that the extension of the urgent care service will need to be completed in a phased way due to new practitioners being at different stages of their training

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Uig sailings diverted for three-days following “enormous disruption” 

A ferry leaves Uig harbour on Friday 13th January before the start of the first phase of vital works at the Skye port.

All CalMac sailing through Uig harbour have been diverted for at least three days amid issues with the temporary bridge at the Skye port.

The ferries operator CalMac said it had taken the decision to divert sailings away for Uig after it emerged that vehicles greater than 10 metres in length were unable to travel through it.

The Highland Council, which is the harbour authority, said the problem was discovered during a live trial of berthing of the MV Hebrides on Wednesday night.

From today CalMac has reverted to the Uig closure services with a daily service provided between Lochmaddy – Ullapool until 27th March.

The decision came after a day of enormous disruption at Uig harbour on Thursday in which services through the Uig were halted just hours after the harbour reopened following a nine-week closure for essential works to the maritime asset.

The Highland Council has announced earlier in the week that the first stage of works to prepare for the replacement of the vessel linkspan had been completed and that ferry services to and from Uig Harbour would resume from 23 March.

Indeed, a spokeswoman for CalMac said they were assured by Highland Council, who are the Harbour Authority, that there would be no restrictions on operations at Uig – however, this has now been proven to not be the case.

CalMac said they are seeking urgent confirmation of the situation from Highland Council as this has caused enormous disruption and upset to our customers. We are pressing Highland Council to resolve this matter as quickly as possible so that we can resume our services to Uig.

The spokeswoman went on say that CalMac fully appreciates and shares the frustration felt by communities regarding this very late notice from Highland Council, which brings more uncertainty to our communities regarding the reopening of Uig.”

They added: Please be assured that we are working closely with The Highland Council and will provide a further update as soon as we are able to.”

Commenting on the farcical situation, Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnstone said: “This latest issue at Uig is extremely disappointing. Ferry users now face longer journeys, more disruption and more uncertainty.

“Surely these issues should have been identified and addressed earlier, and not left until the 11th hour.

“Our ferry network is already struggling, and every incident like this just erodes confidence in the service a little more.”

The second planned closure at Uig harbour for the works is due to take place from 30th October to 11th Dec 2023.

News by Adam Gordon.

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