‘Training in an area worthy of prescription…’

How about GP training in an area of such natural beauty that it is available on prescription?

Since October last year GP’s in Shetland have been able to prescribe Nature in treating conditions such as High Blood Pressure and Anxiety. 

The project was piloted in the Scalloway Surgery in collaboration with the RSPB and is now available across all 10 GP practices in Shetland. 

The prescription comes with a leaflet across a calendar year, filled with amusing, charming, sometimes seemingly off-kilter suggestions. 

For April the leaflet suggests:

· Touch the sea

· Find a bud on a tree... feel the texture

· Turn over some soil and plant some flowering plants.

· Take a wader minute – step outside and hear the call of a whaap (curlew), lapwing or redshank

· Spot the first sten-shakkers (wheatears) returning to Shetland after wintering south of the Sahara

· Make a bug hotel (see rspb.org.uk for ideas)

· Un-litter... a little and save a life. Take part in Da Voar Redd Up

· Take the coastal route to the Broch of Burraland – watch for the “wheel” of a neesik (harbour porpoise) in Mousa Sound

· Visit the old haaf station at Fethaland, keeping an eye open for purple saxifrage on the way

· Clouds are often described as wispy (cirrus), heaped (cumulus) and layered (stratus). What clouds are in the sky today?

For more information: Link to full calendar leaflet - https://www.healthyshetland.com/site/assets/files/1178/730-1309-17-18_nature_prescriptions_calendar_4sep.pdf 

Want to read more? Link to BBC News - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-45758016

Want to see more of the delights of Shetland, an area of outstanding natural beauty. Here is a link to a light-hearted, humorous A-Z of Shetland - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su5weSQH1DY 

Dr Mark Taylor, Associate Advisor, Centre for Health Science, Inverness

North of Scotland GPST of the Year

GPST 1/2/3s in the North of Scotland (Caledonian/Rural track) led the organisation and development of the RCGP North of Scotland GPST of the Year award as part of a ‘Promoting Excellence’ group initiative.

The judges James Douglas (GP and Faculty Provost), Jerry O’Rourke (retired GP and former AD), and Rod Sampson (GP and TPD) had a difficult decision given such a strong set of nominees.

During the #thrive conference, Daniel Pratt was presented with the award, having felt to be a worthy winner.

He is an ST2, presently working in Raigmore’s ED, and soon to start as an ST3 in Tain. He was nominated by his ES Sandy Gordon in relation to:

-being personable and popular with patients and staff

-having come through multiple hospital admissions and treatments in relation to Ewings sarcoma

-spending weekends alongside his wife working with local teenagers

-setting up and promoting Highland Wheelchair Basketball, helping give dignity and credibility to people with impaired mobility.

Well done Daniel!

Dr Rod Sampson, TPD, Caledonian Programme

Nuart returns to Aberdeen

Established in 2017, Nuart Aberdeen is an international public art festival created to present the most interesting and relevant Street Art of its time. It intends to activate, inspire and collaborate with an emergent local scene as well as encourage creative links and exchanges between local businesses, arts organisations, property owners, community centres, education institutions and members of the public across all ages and backgrounds.

Nuart is dedicated to promoting art as part of people’s everyday lives, to bringing art and artists out of studios, basements and institutions and on to the city streets. We aim to stimulate debate by challenging entrenched notions of what public art is, what it can be and who it is for.

The festival provides public platforms for national and international artists to showcase their work through a series of carefully curated site-specific murals, installations, urban interventions and temporary exhibitions. The artists who attend the festival are among the most acclaimed and progressive street and urban art practitioners in the world.

The production of the public artworks is supplemented by Nuart Plus, an international program of academic talks, artist presentations, film screenings, walking tours, public workshops and fringe events that take place across multiple sites during the opening weekend.

https://2019.nuartaberdeen.co.uk/

Test from nuartaberdeen website.