Medical Centre

About us TUPS enjoying the winter sun We are an eight partner Practice, based in Portree, the main town on Skye. The Practice list is just under 5500, of which about half live in or near Portree.

The remainder is distributed over a large surrounding area of scattered crofting townships.

The Practice area extends 12 miles west Dr Shirley Potts explains why she likes being a doctor in Skye …. and includes the peninsula to the Because I just stepped out my backdoor today, up north (25mls), to the south (9mls) the hill and down to the sea, had spectacular views of the and the Island of Raasay to the east. , the Five Sisters of Kintail, Raasay & Rona, Torridon with the Western Isles in the distance.

I approached a on a rocky tower then Surgeries/workload watched juvenile sea eagles learning to soar and ravens having a gathering. Walked back around the shore watching The main surgery premises are situated at dolphins play in the swell of boats in the Sound of Raasay....it was a glorious day but living here means days like this happen. the Portree Medical Centre, which is

adjacent to Portree Hospital. The Medical The job is busy but varied. I enjoy the extended role Centre was purpose-built in 1989. There are and we are treated with respect by our consultant colleagues nine separate consulting rooms and a who are in the main helpful and supportive recognising we take on more that our city colleagues because of our treatment room. remoteness. Our patients are nice - I like the people here.

We get stressed and worn out by the increasing demands of general practice but at least we get to work in a Regular peripheral surgeries are held at great environment- driving back from or taking the Staffin and on the Island of Raasay with Raasay ferry is a good reminder that we are very lucky. home visits being done to the Uig area on a Tuesday and the nursing/residential homes Although Skye is remote, it's not provincial- tourism brings the world to Skye and people migrate to Skye from a currently on a Monday. range of countries and backgrounds. There are lots of good restaurants, cultural things going on, good music etc. Staffin

There is little social hierarchy. - There is one high school for all the children - they grow up together and have a sense of belonging and collective identity which draws them back together- and Skye is a great place to be from.

Dr Ishbel MacDougall, has been at Portree since June 2010 and a partner The Portree Surgery houses all of the GP Practice team since July 2011 and explains over two floors with spacious and modern consulting

“Why I like working at PMC:” rooms. Upstairs we have our main admin areas as well as hot desks for use when not consulting. Our meeting room I enjoy the variety that working is used to host a variety of practice and educational in Portree brings. You are not stuck in meetings and although our reception office is the central the surgery building every day but get to go out and about doing rural surgeries hub of the practice, the central mixing area is certainly the and home visits in a spectacular setting. staff room.

The community hospital work We offer a range additional services to our patients from also adds to the variety and challenge. fitting IUCDs and Nexplanon; undertaking cytology, minor Being able to do that little bit extra for surgery and liquid nitrogen clinics. We also run the usual patients rather than having to refer long term condition clinics, including Asthma, Diabetes, on like you might have to do in other practices, provides immense job and Heart Disease Prevention. We also provide a number satisfaction. of private medicals eg. HGV.

We have a great team - not only We are a paper light Practice with electronic recording of within the practice but the wider notes using INPS Vision and Docman. We offer a text community team of Nurses, CPNs, reminder service; online appointments and requests for Dietician, OTs, Physios, Paramedics etc prescription and are currently working on increasing the as well as Rural Practioner colleagues based at Mackinnon Memorial Hospital in number of patients on the chronic medication service. Broadford. We have been a training practice for over 20 years taking undergraduate medical students from both Dundee University and Imperial College London.

We offer postgraduate training through the North of Deanery

Postgraduate Education meetings are regularly held at the surgery, and are well supported by visiting Consultants from Raigmore Hospital, Inverness. PBSGL events are also a regular event in the locality.

Portree Hospital is cared for by the Partners between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday. The twelve beds are used for acute GP medicine. There are six beds for rehabilitation. Other services include: x-ray, physiotherapy, chiropody, and outpatient clinics run by visiting Consultants covering a range of specialties.

Our nearest district general hospital is Raigmore Hosipal in Inverness with surgical support provided by Broadford at the South of the Island and Fort William.

Within the Practice area are two residential homes for the elderly, (Budhmor House - with 36 beds and run by the Church of Scotland and The Haven in Uig with 12 beds). We also care for a registered Nursing Home with 42 beds (Home Farm Nursing Home).

The doctors are also Police Surgeons, for the local police station.

After 32 years, there must be a good reason for staying.... Perhaps it’s:

…The work itself. Consider the variety, from an urban GP-type day with the fascinating spectrum of patients’ and their problems, to a ferry trip to the weekly branch surgery on the island of Raasay, to a day in the community hospital doing a ward round and attending to all sorts of clinical presentations in A&E. If I want interesting and challenging clinical work, I’ve got it here. After 29 years, you’d think I’d be bored....

… The work environment. A cracking team of administration staff, quality practice nurses, excellent medical colleagues, and a good building in which to practise. And a lively community hospital which marches with our GP work, giving us an enviable intermediate care facility

…The community in which we live. An egalitarian, friendly place, with facilities which seem disproportionately good for such a small community e.g. a 650-pupil high school with an excellent community library and swimming pool, a cinema, and an eclectic variety of matters of local interest

… The environment. Where can the choice of outside interests be bettered, be it walking and climbing, or fishing, or kayaking, and so on? Where in the UK is the landscape more consistently breathtaking? I continue to take photographs on my rounds as if it was my first day on the job, still amazed at the wonders of this place.

Dr Charles L Crichton

Support Team

We have a full-time Practice Manager; a Deputy Manager and five full-time and two part-time administrators and a Medical Secretary, all of whom provide the highest level of service.

Our nursing team consists of:

One Advanced Nurse Practitioner, who sees many of the on the day requests. This was introduced in December 2015 and has already transformed on call days.

Our three Practice Nurses are trained in Asthma and Diabetes and run our long term condition clinics as well as triage and health clinics and are supported by a Healthcare Assistant. We are well supported by a team of community staff including: Macmillan nurses; health visitors; midwives and district nurses.

We think that working in general practice and at Portree is a privilege that that puts us all in a special position of trust and responsibility.

Sunset and skylight on Skye We work in an environment of mutual respect and trust, in which the contribution of every individual is appreciated, respected and supported.

Individual team members are encouraged to develop their knowledge and skills and we rely on everyone to undertake their role and responsibilities in a professional courteous manner and to support their colleagues to do the same.

We hope this has given an insight if only briefly into our work …and that you will also find our information about Skye useful and we look forward to you contacting us.

Dr Steve McCabe, Partner has the final words….

To me general practice is the quintessence of medicine and rural practice such as we have in Portree now represents that quintessence in its purist form. Fundamental to this view is my belief in the necessity to provide safe and sustainable high quality health care to remoter communities.

As a GP in Portree I am lucky to enjoy the company of a whole group of doctors, nurses, healthcare assistants, management and administration staff, who share a vision of trying to provide top notch care and make this medical centre the best it can be every day.

I have been here for 18 years. The two partners who are retiring have both been on Skye for over 20 years and between them been with the practice for nearly 50 years. I think it's a testament to the work that we do here and the environment we work in that when people come they tend to stay.

Every day I still enjoy my job. Every day brings new challenges and new excitements. In 18 years I have never been bored nor have I ever felt isolated or unsupported.