At today's Budget, the administration set aside £30,000 to run a pilot in The Carse of Gowrie to assist in transport to health centres where health care has significantly changed.
The Carse Medical Centre will move to Errol and the satellite surgery in St Madoes will close permanently; this will impact people in St Madoes, Glencarse and Kinfauns who would
normally attend St Madoes.
For the elderly or people with limited mobility this will be an issue because due to the bus timetable, it’s possible a round trip to the doctor in Errol would take over two hours.
Healthcare in Scotland is changing: with less GPs available to provide the service, practices closing down or shutting their lists there will be continuing issues for patients wanting to access doctors' appointments.
This fund is designed to establish how that issue can be addressed and resolved. Where practices move or close, this money will allow for community-based initiatives to be established which will transport local people to a GP surgery. This fund of money will be allocated by The Action Partnership.
http://www.pkc.gov.uk/article/18463/Action-Partnerships
Commenting on the development, Angus Forbes, Conservative Councillor for The Carse of Gowrie said:
“I was delighted that the Administration set this fund up and chose my ward as the trial site. With the closure of St Madoes GP Surgery, healthcare in The Carse of Gowrie is changing
drastically and this fund will help set up a community transport facility with the specific purpose of getting people to their doctor.
I look forward to working with the Action Partnership to get this money (which was delivered by a Conservative administration) into the community as soon as possible