A BIG THANK YOU to all Carradale Surgery patients who turned up to the meeting with Michael Russell MSP in Carradale Village Hall on Thursday, 15 February. A very strong message has now been sent from the Carradale and Skipness communities as to the serious concerns which the new GP contract will have on all remote and rural practices across Scotland. Dr Elder & Carradale Patient Group are receiving messages of thanks from Rural GP's and Patient Groups across Scotland for raising awareness, and these communities will be holding meetings and highlighting their #RememberRural concerns with their own MSP's and councillors. To keep up to date with on the issues this link will provide the most up to date information: http://ruralgp.scot/rememberrural/

This link provides excellent information on the GP contract - please read. http://ruralgp.scot/rememberrural/

If you wish to question your MSP Michael Russell on the recently announced GP contract please attend this meeting.

Dr Jennifer Lane Lee also attended the “Your GP and You” meeting in Glasgow and has written the following report: A special meeting of the Carradale Community Council on 1 February 2018 revealed a serious potential threat to our local surgery from the imposition of a new GP contract. Concerned, I asked to accompany Karen Murphy, representative of the Carradale Surgery Patient’s Group, to a meeting that I hoped would clarify exactly what our community is facing. As I booked my place on the event website, my cynicism was piqued by the lack of an agenda and the total absence of any detail as to the parameters of the meeting. I worried that this was little more than a ‘tick box’ validation exercise. And sure enough, by mid-way through the meeting nothing of relevance to our surgery’s circumstances had even been mentioned, let alone discussed. I wanted to leave the room from the moment our table was given a box of emoticon cards to play with, but what precipitated my ultimate storming out was when the government mouthpiece declared how well we had all been informed of these changes and how all GPs had agreed to them. At which point, I read from a leaked letter by (the very courageous) Dr. Helene Irvine, who was a member of the government’s own review board: “In fact, effective representation of rural interests was minimal or absent during the discussion of the SAF Review at these TAGRA meetings […].” Though the meeting was even worse than I expected, it at least clarified that we must stand up and fight now if we are to have any influence over what is about to happen to our surgery. Hopefully, you will share the anger I felt when Dr. Irvine revealed in her letter that “public monies” from an “accounting raid of rural general practice” was probably used to bribe other GPs into voting for the package. She repeats this throughout her letter along with highlighting why rural GPs are right to be very angry: about a scandalous lack of representation or consultation; about declining practice funding coupled with added costs; and yes, about declining personal GP income (whilst because of a lack of transparency the “urban GPs [could very well] pocket the extra resource as personal income”). I have rarely read such an incendiary letter and encourage you all to read it for yourselves. Dr Irvine’s letter can be read at the following link: http://www.carradalesurgery.co.uk/website/C34509/files/Irvine%20Letter.pdf

Carradale Patient Group representative Karen Murphy feeds back thoughts and concerns from the recent patient engagement meeting on the new #GPcontract.

BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE PLEASE for Fiona Lavery-Jones 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 what a fantastic sum to raise for Carradale Community First Responders. You are a star in our eyes in more ways than one raising this fantastic amount and being a volunteer First Responder 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

CHALLENGING TIMES FOR RURAL HEALTHCARE Dr Elder on behalf of the Carradale Patient Group will present the possible implications of the new GP contract for Carradale Surgery at the East Kintyre Community Council meeting on THURSDAY, 1 FEBRUARY 2018 at 7pm. A meeting will also be arranged in Skipness for patients in the Skipness area. Our website provides further details on the changes agreed by the BMA & Scottish Government to be implemented from 1 April 2018. http://www.carradalesurgery.co.uk/ppg.aspx