Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Packed Perth meeting on future health care provision

Liz Smith speaks at the Royal George Hote
Liz Smith speaks at the Royal George Hote

Perth Royal Infirmary has a “secure and stable future” at the heart of health care provision, a packed public meeting was assured last night.

However, as a major redesign of NHS Tayside is under way to meet the challenges of the future, the services offered there will undoubtedly change, they were told.

Around 100 members of the public attended the meeting in the Royal George Hotel which was organised by MSP’s Liz Smith, Murdo Fraser and Alexander Stewart and welcomed a top table headed by health board chairman Professor John Connell.

Ms Smith said that health care topped the list of the concerns of their constituents and could be put into five categories – fears that PRI will be downgraded, concerns over the number of GPs,  complaints over the service to rural communities,  concern about Murray Royal Hospital and calls for more to be done for patient transport.

Professor Connell said a major reason for the attendance of himself and his senior colleagues at the meeting was to listen to the concerns of the public.

“We want to understand what your concerns are,” he said.

He set out the background against which NHS Tayside was operating and said that changes to health services were fundamental to meeting current and future needs.

“The changes are unprecedented in scale and pace,” he warned.

He said that the progressive rise in population in Tayside and the demographic shift to a significantly older population would inevitably put a strain on services.

Professor Connell said that medical treatment had “changed out of all recognition” in recent years which also fuelled the requirement for a rethink in how services were delivered.

The need for significant numbers of school leavers to opt for health or social care as a career was vital and Brexit would have an impact on staff recruitment.

Against this background he said it was only right that there should be moves to centres of excellence in certain fields which might require the public to travel a bit further for treatment.

“I would rather travel 100 miles to get the right treatment rather than get the wrong treatment next door,” he said.

Professor Connell said it would be “horses for courses” with centres for definitive treatment in a field emerging.

In redrawing how services are delivered he said there were two core values  – patients were at the heart of every decision and delivering services safely.

The panel fielded questions from the floor on a number of topics and Dr Andrew Russell,  NHS Tayside medical director said that collectively – the public and health professionals – would shape a service that could tackle  “the hard facts about population change”.