New GP service starting 1st August 2024

We are delighted to announce that our application to run the Furnace and Inveraray Surgery has been successful.  

The new GP service will be starting in Furnace and Inveraray on the 1st of August 2024.

Robbie Coull (GP) and Eleanor Earnshaw (RN), along with our Practice Manager Anne Maclachlan, will be taking over the running of the Furnace and Inveraray Surgery from Lochgilphead Medical Practice. 

You can read about the process that lead to this decision on our project website threelochsmedical.com

 NHS Highland announced the result of the recruitment process on the 21st of June 2024.

"Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) is delighted to announce that following a competitive recruitment process Dr Robert Coull has been successful in his application to take over the General Medical Services (GMS) contract for the Furnace and Inveraray Medical Practice....The HSCP would also like to thank Lochgilphead Medical Practice, who held the previous GMS contract, for their work caring for the patients at Furnace and Inveraray as well as their assistance during the recent recruitment process."

Fiona Duff, Interim Head of Primary Care for the HSCP, said "We would like to thank the local community for their ongoing engagement with the HSCP over the last few months and also those community representatives who helped us with the recruitment process and interviews."

We will take over the running of Furnace and Inveraray Surgery on the 1st of August, 2024.  This is the date that the previous contractors, the Lochgilphead Medical Practice, will cease to provide services.  This allows us to do a direct handover to our service and avoids the needs for the Health Board or HSCP to run the practice with locums.

The reception, admin, and nursing staff will all have the option to continue their contracts with the new service.

Meeting with Inveraray Community Council

We'd like to thank members of Inveraray Community Council for meeting with us and talking to us about the future of the Furnace and Inveraray Medical Practice.

Meeting with Furnace Community Council

 

We'd like to thank Furnace Community Council for taking the time to meet with us, chat to us, and show us around the village last week.  Furnace Community Council had already visited our practice in Strachur and had been invited by the Strachur Patient Participation Group to attend their Strachur Community Hub. 

We managed to cover quite a few topics and learned a lot about Furnace village and its health care needs.  One of the things that stands out to us is how vibrant a village life there is in Furnace given the size of the village.  For example, the fish supper nights and the bar in the Village Hall.  We were also impressed by the enthusiasm and commitment of the Community Council, which I am sure is linked.  The Everything Furnace website is amazing, and the local historian's contributions deserve special mention.  It shows Furnace as a dynamic little community.

The key take home messages from the visit to us were:

• Furnace residents would like to go back to have a regular GP and nurse service in the village, and were open to discussion about what form that could take (in terms of the level of services and how often per week).
• The loss of the GP clinic in Furnace appears to have negatively impacted the village and put downward pressure on other services (eg: the school).
• Furnace has a proud history and remains a dynamic community.
• The Furnace patients value continuity of care and would like to be able to see the same doctor for follow up appointments and have a doctor that knows you treat you.
• Furnace see the value of good management in a practice.
  

We were asked whether patients would need to travel to Strachur for treatment if we were the successful candidate, and we can reassure patients that they will have their own GPs in Furnace and Inveraray, and definitely won't be asked to travel to Strachur.  (Of course, we won't stop patients who want to be seen in Strachur from doing so - for example if they work in Cowal and that would be more convenient for them at times.)

We were asked about our ability to recruit GPs when other local practices struggle, and we discussed the reasons why Strachur is able to recruit GPs and other staff in the current climate.  We've added a page on this website to cover the subject of recruitment in more detail.

Furnace raised that they would like to see the future of the practice secured with good succession planning and planning for sudden illness in key staff.  We thought that was a very good topic to raise, and we've added a page on this website to cover future proofing as well.

I've also added a section from our discussion about recruitment:

Strachur Medical Practice proposal to run Furnace and Inveraray Medical Practice

 

Strachur Medical Practice is keen to work with patients in putting together our application to run the vacant Inveraray and Furnace Medical Practice. This project currently has the name Three Lochs Medical.

Small, remote medical practices have been under sustained pressure over the last 20 years, and many of them have lost their own GP and become branch surgeries of larger town practices, which has often meant a reduction in the level of service in those communities.

Lochgilphead Medical Practice have recently announced that they are handing their contract to run Inveraray and Furnace Medical Practice back to the Health Board. The Health Board plans to advertise for partners to run the Inveraray and Furnace Medical Practice.

We believe that this represents a unique opportunity for our team to work with the patients of these communities and NHS Highland to develop services for patients of all three sites in both practices that will sustain, protect, and improve the health care of patients for decades to come.

We work closely with patients when developing services, so we are looking for patients of the Inveraray and Furnace Medical Practice to volunteer to meet with us and talk to us about how they would like to see their services run. If you would like to get involved, then let us know.

We’ve given the project the name Three Lochs Medical. 

The name is linked to the practice areas of the two practices which are bounded by Loch Fyne, Loch Eck, and Loch Restin on the Rest and Be Thankful. 

The name reminds us that the history and culture of our communities’ are very much linked to the lochs, especially Loch Fyne. 

It also shows that our vision is not about Inveraray surgery being a branch surgery of a larger neighbour, as happened to it in 2014, but this is about a collaboration between communities of equals. 

However, this is only a name for the project, and we will continue to use the original practice names if we are the successful applicant.