An SNP by-election candidate for Tain and Easter Ross has heaped praise on NHS Highland for the treatment and care both he, and his family, have received.
Peter Newman, a school teacher by profession, is standing in the Tain and Easter Ross ward, alongside five other candidates.
In his campaign release, Newman highlighted that he was recovering from surgery.
“Two weeks ago, a very nice surgeon took a bone saw to me and replaced my hip,” said Newman.
“At 43, I am young to have had to undergo this procedure.
“It’s a long story, but over 15 years ago, I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis, almost certainly from playing too much rugby.
“Fast forward a decade and a half and the pain was excruciating again.
“Can’t sleep, can’t run, can’t stretch without tears in the eyes, excruciating.
“There’s a cyst in the bone: the effect of literal years of bone rubbing on bone.
I know that because, on the day I told my partner, “this has gone too far,” and she said “book an appointment with the GP,” I saw my GP.
On the same day.
“A timeline of what followed: a week after that, I was back to see the practice’s physio.
“Ten days after that, I was in Invergordon‘s hospital having the hips x-rayed.
“A further week later, a phone call from the physio confirmed the referral to see the orthopaedic surgeon.
“That took a little while longer: four weeks later the letter arrived, about seven weeks later I was in front of the man who wields the shiny blade of power.
“I went “under the knife” almost exactly six months after that call to the GP.
I was released from hospital after expert care at the National Treatment Centre and was home in around 30 hours.
“Physios, nurses, nurse prescribers, anaesthetist’s, recovery charge nurses, all were first rate professionals, happy in their work and reassuring to someone who had never had so much as a broken arm before.
“But, during that very short wait, at every turn, I had asked whichever medico I was speaking to, “I assume there’ll be a huge delay?”
On each occasion, they said, “Oh, no. It’s fine. Won’t be too long.”
That National Treatment Centre, is that slick and shiny facility out on the UHI campus to which the Scottish Government has just pledged an extra £2.6 million.
It would be cheap at twice the price.
“Do you live in Highland?” my recovery surgeon asked.
“Yes.”
“Ah,” he said, “That’s why it’s so quick.
“We’ve done about 1,400 in the last 18 months here.”
“The NTC is so successful, that they are taking cases from Grampian, Aberdeen and all the way across the north.
“And that’s the point,” says Newman.
“I want experts, well practiced in their craft doing my surgery.
“Not a hospital geographically closer to home but with a surgeon propping a book open on top of the monitors to check he remembers how to do it.
As I said to the anesthetist:
“I like that this is a life dominating thing for me, but for you it’s Thursday.
“So why was I glumly asking about delays and long time scales?
“I was thinking that way because all we ever hear from the political opposition is negativity.
“Hell, in Highland, and especially Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, the Lib Dems have done nothing but talk down health care, the NHS and social care as a political tactic for, quite literally, years.
“I’ve never seen an actual policy or a solution from them, but I’ve certainly seen scaremongering and tapping into people’s fears, that’s been a staple.
“And even though I’ve been irritated by this, and even though I know healthcare workers, and I’ve looked at the stats and I know that Scotland has the best performing A&E numbers in the UK and even though for decades I have been able to compare the first class platinum-plated GP service I have received in all four corners of the Highlands, I have still allowed that negative, politically motivated swamp of sewage which passes for their discourse to influence my opinion.
“I have had doctors in Dornoch, Tain, Wick, Kinlochleven and Bonar Bridge.
“I’ve never struggled for an appointment.
“I moved my mum up from the south of England when she got dementia.
“Primarily, because I knew she would have a better quality of NHS care than if she remained in England.
“Two weeks after my operation and I’m back up and about doing my physio.
“And this week alone, thanks to SNP investment, hip & knee replacements hit a record-high 17,399 last year, with the total number of operations up 7.7% this June vs last year across Scotland.
“In Highland, it was announced that veterans will now have access to an independent, expert clinical review of military service-related injuries, which remain a concern despite intervention, or conditions that have developed earlier than expected, through a new service hosted by NHS Highland.
“The Veterans In-Service Injury Network (VISIN), supported by £50,000 annual Scottish Government funding, will be hosted by NHS Highland and available across Scotland.
“If that wasn’t enough, it was released that the number of GPs in Scotland has reached its highest level since before the pandemic, a 4% increase from 2024.
“The overall GP headcount, which includes full time and part-time GPs has also increased to above 4,500.
“The GP workforce survey results, published today, also show the GP vacancy rate has fallen to 3.8%, compared with 7.6% recorded the year before.
“Is all of this to say that the NHS is perfect?
“Of course not.
“Yes we can improve on waiting times, cancer care, staffing, GPs contracts in some places, although this primarily remains outwith the control of the Scottish Government.
“But I, for one, am extremely grateful to the NHS and I hope other parties have the guts to celebrate the success of our front line staff and begin to come up with some policies to make sure that we can work together to provide the level of care I’ve always received universally.
“Otherwise, they’re just poisoning the well for tawdry political gain.
“Personally, I just want to say thank you.”
