Lochgoilhead Included in Out of Hours Review

The CHP Core Team of the 24/7 Review Group has announced that Lochgoilhead will be included in the review of Out of Hours GP cover in Cowal.

This is great news, as initially there had been a  move by the CHP to exclude Lochgoilhead.   However, 90% of patients in Lochgoilhead at a recent public meeting voted to be part of the review.

Lochgoilhead currently has its GP out of hours cover provided from the Vale of Leven.    The Lochgoilhead GPs are part of the CowalDoc team that is putting together a proposal for Out of Hours cover.  They currently provide Out of Hours cover for Strachur and Tighnabruich patients 1.5 days/week from Lochgoilhead, although oddly if one of their own patients calls a GP is sent from the Vale of Leven. 

We were very concerned that exclusion of Lochgoilhead would not allow us to provide a truly inclusive proposal for the local GPs cover the rural Cowal practices.

We now look forward to being able to put forward such a proposal to the 24/7 group in the New Year for their consideration.

Welcome to CowalDOC

NHS Highland is currently conducting a review into Out of Hours GP care in Cowal.   Currently there are three services - the Primary Care Centre in Dunoon based at the Cowal Community Hospital, the Strachur-Tighnabruaich cover with an out of hours base in Strachur, and the Arrochar-Lochgoilhead service provided from Lomond.

Cowal and the surrounding area  divided into zones.

Current GP Out of Hours provision:

Zone A- OOH GP at Dunoon Hospital

Zone B- OOH GP in Strachur/Tighnabruaich/Lochgoilhead

Zone C- OOH GP at Vale of Leven

Zone D- Inveraray GP

CowalDOC is an organisation created by and for local GPs that are interested in providing an integrated Out of Hours service for patients in Cowal. 

CowalDOC aims to submit a proposal to provide an integrated service to local patients run and staffed by local doctors to start in 2012.

If you are a doctor that is interested in joining, or collaborating with, CowalDOC then please contact us.