Braemar Out of Hours Care & Support
On Tuesday 26th September 2023, Aberdeenshire Health & Social Care Partnership, alongside partners from Scottish Ambulance Service and G-Meds, held a community event ahead of the forthcoming changes to GP provision for the residents of Braemar.
Members of the Braemar Community had the opportunity to speak to representatives from all services and the following analysis has been captured from these discussions.
There were 15 key themes identified within the analysis: General Comments of Concern, General Comments, GP Provision, Handover of GP Practice, G-Med, Out of Hours support and care, Braemar Care Initiative, Ambulance Provision, Pharmacy, Temporary Residents, Communications, Housing, Community Nursing, Vaccinations & MIU (Minor Injuries Unit), Weather/ Transport/ Geography.
The three highest referenced themes were Weather/ Transport/ Geography, GP Provision and Ambulance Provision.
WEATHER/ TRANSPORT/ GEOGRAPHY
The theme with the highest number of comments/concerns was related to weather, transport, and the geography of Braemar and surrounding communities. Frustrations were voiced about the lack of public transport to the area with no provision on a Sunday noted. Acknowledging that service provision for out of hours care from G-Meds may now be based in Banchory, there were concerns regarding the distance of travel required to access this care. It was noted that GP provision from Braemar covers outlying settlements such as Marr Lodge & Glenshee also.
The concept of isolation was strongly captured through the feedback from attendees.
Further concerns were voiced regarding the winter months and the poor weather conditions. Being a significantly remote and rural community in the Cairngorms, Braemar can experience extremes of weather. There are significant concerns as to how medical care both planned and emergency would be delivered when the weather is bad.
GP PROVISION
Throughout all of the conversations that took place, a strong sense and feeling of positive working relationships with the current GPs was evident. GP provision is currently managed 24/7 by 2 GPs and most people were grateful for the level of care and support that they receive. It is evident from feedback that all patients receive a high level of personalised care and many people were very aware of just how good the services they receive is and how valued that service is by the community.
AMBULANCE PROVISION
There is a significant level of history attached to ambulance provision in Braemar and there is considerable historic upset around this. Frustrations continue that the Ambulance provision was removed from Braemar and relocated in Ballater, and there were concerns voiced related to the time it would take for an ambulance to respond to a medical emergency if travelling from Ballater to Braemar (N.B. The commute time from Ballater to Braemar based on Google is 27 minutes, based on a 16.7-mile journey).
There are secondary concerns that ambulance crews that do attend from Ballater are single handed which limits the response they can provide and causes a further delay whilst a second two-man crew attends and can transport to the correct hospital/care facility.
GENERAL COMMENTS
There were several general comments which are worthy of noting. It was acknowledged that the status quo would be the preferred option, but attendees were aware of the need for changes as no GP can work 24/7 and there needed to be realistic expectations about what service delivery would look like moving forward. There was a sense that this is an opportunity to learn lessons from other remote & rural communities that had experienced similar changes.
There were concerns voiced for specific areas of care delivery that have a time critical response such as cardiac care and stroke care. With these comments, however, came suggestions of how the local community, armed forces and mountain rescue may be able to assist.
SUGGESTIONS
There were a number of interesting and innovative ideas proposed. Many were focused on how people may be able to use current services differently and enhance provision already in place. For example, to link the current Community First Responders with Braemar Care Initiative to increase capacity, enhance Information & Communication Technology provision with more virtual care, training volunteers to support elderly to access telehealth care. There were several proposals for the local community to purchase an ambulance vehicle to aid the process of having Ambulance provision located in Braemar.
There is a community council with representatives from Local Councillors, Fire Service, Scottish Ambulance Service, and the local community who meet monthly and continue to brainstorm ideas of how the local community can further assist.
NEXT STEPS
We are committed to continuing the work that we have begun with the community and to look further at some of the suggestions that were made at the engagement session. To that end we are looking for community representatives to continue the work we have started.
If you are interested in becoming a community rep then please email us at aberdeenshirehscp@aberdeenshire.gov.uk or complete the form below
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