The people of Caithness have confirmed their five top health priorities by responding to Highland Health Council’s Caithness Voices questionnaire. A first analysis shows they agree with the top five issues highlighted at an event in Wick and drop-in sessions both there and Thurso during September. The five issues identified were: closure of A&E Department at Dunbar Hospital; lack of staff (eg. unfilled vacancies, loss of GPs from the area); poor communications (eg. about A&E Dunbar & NHS24, patient/doctor); NHS dental services; and chiropody.

A questionnaire was distributed widely to confirm that these five issues were indeed regarded by a more diverse public as most important and to investigate more closely their views on - and possible solutions to - each issue. This was circulated to as many groups and individuals as possible, sent to local radio stations and posted on Caithness.org.  A short version was published in the Caithness Courier and John O’Groat Journal asking whether readers agreed with these top five priorities and if they thought any other issue was more important.

A total of 295 responses were received to the first question ‘In your opinion, are these the five most important concerns?’ An overwhelming majority of respondents (81%) agreed that

these five issues were most important, with 16% disagreeing and 3% who didn’t know.

Under the original top five, mental health services were ranked next: 4% of all respondents cited that as most important. Some of the other issues causing concern were maternity services, care for younger disabled people and waiting times.

Margaret Thomson, Chair of Highland Health Council, said: “Clearly the recent announcement from Highland Primary Care NHS Trust regarding the A&E service at Dunbar will help allay many people’s anxieties, whilst also confirming the validity of their concerns.” She went on to say, “We hope there might be other changes in response to the full report.”

Highland Health Council would like to thank all those who took the time to participate, and those groups and organisations who assisted with wider distribution. A complete analysis of all the questionnaires is underway and we hope to have a full report - including some interesting suggested solutions - available in the near future. Highland Health Council can be contacted at: Freephone 0800 834017 or Freepost: Highland Health Council, Freepost SCO2643, Inverness, IV3 8BR.

295 responses were received to Question 1 (42 from the newspaper advertisements and 253 from the full questionnaire, the latter comprising 16 questions).

Most respondents agreed these five issues were most important:

Of the other issues raised, concern about mental health services was ranked next under the original top five, with 4% of all respondents citing it as most important to them: