A HEART support group has withdrawn from consultations with NHS Highland over the replacement for a cardiac rehabilitation service in Inverness, claiming that their views have been ignored.
The publicly-funded and purpose-built Highland Heartbeat Centre is scheduled for closure and Inverness Bravehearts had been assured that replacement premises would be at least as good as the unit at Raigmore Hospital.
However, Helen Corrigall from Bravehearts said: “It is becoming increasingly apparent to us that this will not in fact happen and that no one in NHS Highland is actually caring that the public funded this centre for a specific purpose.
“None of the alternative venues that have been found are as suitable.
“This is completely unacceptable and we see no reason to continue to be part of any future consultations.”
Corrigall added: “It feels as if they have been ignoring us from the start of this whole process. We were invited along to discuss possible alternative premises and our views on the suitability of these have not been listened to.”
In a statement, NHS Highland said: “While we have previously signalled that services delivered in the Heartbeat Centre space are changing, we made a commitment that these will not happen until there are other appropriate alternative arrangements for cardiac rehabilitation.
“This remains our position and this includes actively looking for alternative accommodation in Inverness for parts of the service.”
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