# General > Doanalsin's Diary >  Fit's in 'e Coorier 'e day

## Nwicker60

Caithness Courier headlines for November 6
*THE daughter of a dementia sufferer* has hit out at the revelation that a decision on the future of a currently mothballed Wick hospital ward could take up to 18 months.  Sharon Swanson hit out at the likely timescale to resolve whether or not to reopen the eight –bed Harmsworth unit at the Town and County Hospital.  Its future hinges on the outcome of a protracted review under way, to redesign health service in Caithness. It began a year ago following an abortive attempt to rejig the current provision which focused on a proposal to close the inpatient ward at Thurso’s Dunbar Hospital.

*PASSPORT interviews have returned to Wick* two years after the old office closed down and left people to travel hundreds of miles to get their documents sorted.   They are now able to undertake a video link interview with the main passport office in Glasgow, from Highland Council’s temporary service point in Girnigoe Street.  First-time applicants need to be interviewed before they can receive their passport and the lack of a local office forced them to travel to Inverness and even as far as Dundee and Edinburgh.

*TWO otter cubs*, who hid under a wheelie bin after being chased by two dogs, are recovering and thriving in the Scottish SPCA’s care.  Scotland’s animal welfare charity was contacted on October 26 when the 10-week old brothers were found in distress and without their mum on Thurso Beach.  They were then scared off by two dogs and ran into a nearby garden and when senior SSPCA inspector Audrey Gunn arrived, she found the pair huddled next to a wheelie bin.  The cubs, named Thurso and Surf, are being looked after at the SSPCA’s national wildlife rescue centre in Fischcross, Clackmannanshire.

*BEDBLOCKING in Caithness* continues to be a major headache for the health authority with 13 people in hospital waiting for a place in a local care home.  Seven are in the Dunbar hospital in Thurso, three in Caithness General and three more in the Town and County in Wick.  “The current situation has developed following the temporary loss of care home capacity”, NHS Highland north area manager Bob Silverwood told the latest meeting of Caithness District Partnership on Friday.  Over the past two years, three local care homes have been subjected to an embargo on admissions after getting poor reports from the Care Inspectorate with the latest affected being the Riverside and Seaview homes in Wick.

*HIGHLAND Council is under pressure* to improve access to Castletown beach.  Local village officer Innes Moodie has called on the local authority to sort out the problem as access has been poor since two bridges were swept away in a storm several years ago.  Only one was replaced and Mr Moodie says reconstruction of a second bridge is long overdue.

*THE first 10-kilometre running course* at a Highland wind farm is providing a funding boost for local organisations.  About 100 runners took part in the Turbine 10 event which was held over the undulating service tracks around the 21 turbines at Westfield, west of Thurso, on September 15.  More than 80 people also took part in an accompanying 4km fun run/walk.

*BUSINESS and computing students* at North Highland College UHI rubbed shoulders with Alex Epstein, an ex contestant of BBC’s _ The Apprentice_ when he dropped in to the college’s Thurso campus last week.  He captured the imagination of both students and staff by telling them about his time on the hit show and his latest business venture.

*A MERGED Highland emergency call centre* with police, fire, health and council staff all under one roof, has been proposed.  Highland Council has suggested the public authorities could team up and open a shared call-handling hub in Inverness where each would have their own space within the building.  The announcement heaps pressure on the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service which is considering whether to axe the regions Inverness control room where 19 staff are employed.

----------

