A site for North Uist Medical practice.">North Uist Medical Practice

Departures.

Just a quick update for anyone who doesn’t already know about the recent changes in Lochmaddy.

First of all, we were very sorry to lose our excellent practice nurse Angie a few weeks ago. She has moved away to England to start a new job, and we wish her all the best. Angie was much loved by staff and patients alike, and has left a big hole in the practice which will be hard to fill. Hopefully a new nurse should be starting soon – check here for updates on the new appointment.

Secondly, as many of you know, Dr Keiller has had a nasty Skiing accident resulting in a fractured leg and will be out of action for the foreseeable future. This has happened just a few months before his proposed retirement – so it is unclear exactly how things will pan out. We are actively looking for a locum doctor to help out whilst he is incapacitated and hope to have news on this quite soon. We will keep you posted!

Thirdly. Dr Enid Sesay finished her 6 months training in the practice and has moved on as planned to a new job in Elgin to get more experience. It was very pleasant for everyone here to get to know Enid – and we all hope that she will go on to fully qualify as a GP at the end of her 3 year training programme. Thank you to everyone who came to see her as a patient under my supervision. Your cooperation is vital in the training of future doctors.

Lastly, the Taigh Ceilidh clinic is no more. The practice was only able to use this building with the permission of the local social work department – but this permission has now been revoked as the building is earmarked for sale. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused – but have put on an extra surgery in Lochmaddy for those who still wish to be seen on Thursday afternoons. We have actively been looking for alternatives over the past few months to no avail, and wish to thank the members of our patient participation group who made various efforts to help set up a plan B. There is still a possibility that the clinic could be reinstated at some point in the future if a suitable building is found – watch this space. If you live on the west side and know of elderly or poorly mobile people who might miss the medicine collection service that we provided in Bayhead you could help by asking them if they would like you to do a pickup the next time you come to Lochmaddy. I am sure this would be very much appreciated by those who can’t drive in particular.

As you can imagine, all these changes have put a bit of stress in the system. I am now on call 5 days a week for the practice, as well as doing a lot more out of hours work to cover Dr Keillers shifts as well as my own. Add to this the need to cover the nurses usual patients and you can imagine that I am feeling a bit stretched. So far things have been ticking along (with special thanks to the district nurses who have offered to help out) – but I would like to ask for your understanding in the event of any disruption. Inevitably it may take a bit longer to see a doctor at the moment, and it is much more difficult than usual for me to be able to accommodate things like house calls. Please do not request a home visit unless you are housebound, I will always fit urgent cases into our surgeries in Lochmaddy even if we are fully booked – and this is often the quickest / safest way to be assessed by a doctor. If there is no alternative to calling me out then of course this will be dealt with – please call to discuss your case if you are at all worried about your health and need advice as to the most appropriate way to move forward.