GARELOCHHEAD residents heard the latest update on plans for the village’s Medical Centre at a public meeting last week.

A packed Gibson Hall heard on Thursday evening that two doctors will be working at the practice, one being there two full days, and the other two mornings, per week.

For the rest of the week, the practice will be manned by doctors from Helensburgh Medical Centre, which will take over the management of Garelochhead from Wednesday, August 1.

Addressing the meeting, Doctors Brian McLachlan and Nick Dunn also stated their intention to start a patients’ participation group in order to liaise with residents.

Dr McLachlan said: “We have two new doctors starting with us. Mandy Allison has worked for many years in Edinburgh and is moving to the area for family reasons.

“She brings a lot of experience and will work every Monday and Tuesday. Tasha Phillips will join us on a Wednesday and Thursday morning.

“We will use Thursday afternoons, and Fridays all day, to rotate around the practices, as it is important to get a feel for how things can be developed.

“We have a plan in place and there will be stability over the next few years, but we also want to be listening to any concerns you might have.”

Dr Dunn added: “It is important to recognise the needs of the community and we were keen to organise a patients’ participation group which meets regularly to hear how we can improve.

“These are things that we will see evolving over the next few years and we hope that will improve the care people get. We are keen to have feedback and we would hope that the first meeting will take place in early August.”

A question was raised at the meeting about cover for doctors at the Garelochhead practice going on holidays, and whether they would come from Helensburgh or a locum service.

Dr McLachlan said: “If we get people on holiday in Helensburgh, we employ locums. That is the model most practices use.

“The problem is that we have doctors on maternity leave at the moment as well, and are struggling to provide cover even with six months’ notice. It is a real problem across the country.

“But we will do what we have to do to ensure that there is cover, whether that is locums or some of us.”

The Advertiser reported last week that Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) had welcomed the plans for the Helensburgh practice to take over the running of Garelochhead.

The HSCP has been overseeing the Garelochhead centre since the retirement of Dr James McKelvie in June 2016.