Letters In The Herald - We Must Act To End Unfair Treatment Of The Highlands

3rd December 2024

Prof Ronald MacDonald, Portree writing in the Herald letters page on 2 December 2024. He highlights an article the previous day with regards to affects on Caithness and Skye.

AS a resident of a remote rural community, I was saddened, although not surprised, to read your summary of the Scottish Human Rights Commission findings that governments and public agencies have failed to meet minimum international obligations on the right to health care, housing and food in the Highlands and Islands ("Struggles facing ‘unheard' citizens", The Herald, November 27). These findings are the result of the Scottish Government's deliberate long-term mismanagement of the Highlands and Islands.

The first aspect of this is the Scottish Government's failure to ensure that public sector agencies, such as NHS Highland, respect their statutory duty to recognise the social costs imposed on communities due to changes in service provision. In Caithness, for example, withdrawal of maternity facilities, as your article notes, imposes unnecessary social costs and patient safety issues on pregnant women, as part of a brutal cost cutting exercise which is at variance with public sector economics.

Rad the full letter HERE

Read the article