NHS Highland

NHS Highland is one of the fourteen regions of NHS Scotland. Geographically, it is the largest Health Board, covering an area of from Kintyre in the south-west to Caithness in the north-east, serving a population of 320,000 people. In 2016–17 it had an operating budget of £780 million.
Organisational structure.
NHS Highland is composed of two Health and Social Care Partnerships (HSCPs). The Highland Health and Social Care partnership covers the local government area of Highland. It has two main divisions. The North and West operational unit covers Caithness, Sutherland, Lochaber and Skye, Lochalsh and Wester Ross. The Inner Moray Firth operating unit covers Raigmore Hospital, Badenoch and Strathspey, Mid Ross, Inverness and Nairn.
The Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership covers the local government area of Argyll and Bute.
History.
On 1 October 2001 NHS Highland health board was established. NHS Highland's first board members were announced 10 days later. In 2005 Community Health Partnerships (CHPs) were introduced.
On 1 April 2006, NHS Highland took over responsibility for part of the former NHS Argyll and Clyde region (corresponding approximately to the Argyll and Bute council area), the other part of which was transferred to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
On 1 April 2012 NHS Highland became the lead agency responsible for Adult Social Care services, with the council taking over issues relating to children.
It directly employs over 10,500 people and there are also around 1,000 primary care staff in the region.
In December 2014, Broadford was chosen as the site for a new hospital, after a consultation process. Some campaigners had hoped that the central hub of services could have been based at Portree Hospital, however the Scottish Health Council has pronounced the process followed by the board as legitimate.
In 2017, the board reduced the number of main administrative buildings- refitting Assynt house, which the board owns, and reorganising Larch house which is leased.
Skyports, a drone delivery service provider, began delivering pathology samples, medicine, essential personal protective equipment and COVID-19 testing kits in Argyll and Bute in 2020. Delivery should take only 30 minutes, where previously it has taken 48 hours. Communication will be provided by Vodafone’s 4G network and satellite communications. The plan is to integrate the operation into the local NHS supply chain.
Training initiatives.
In 2011 NHS Highland announced it would be running a week-long "boot camp" for junior surgeons at Raigmore Hospital, Inverness.
Hospitals.
NHS Highland is responsible for a number of different types of hospital - a large district general hospital, 3 rural general hospitals, a psychiatric hospital and a number of community hospitals
Primary Care.
The board started tests of the GP Near Me service with patients of Riverview Practice in Wick, Caithness in October 2018. Patients can book video appointments if hands-on care is not required. A similar system NHS Near Me has been used in Caithness for hospital outpatient appointments.