Mackinnon Memorial Hospital


The Mackinnon Memorial Hospital, also known as Broadford Hospital, is a community hospital, located in the village of Broadford on the Isle of Skye. It is managed by NHS Highland.

History

The hospital was commissioned as voluntary hospital commemorating the work of the Reverend Donald Mackinnon, the former parish priest. It was designed by W L Carruthers & Alexander and opened in September 1914. A substantial renovation and expansion was completed in 1963.
The hospital established a reputation for rural surgical care, with an important role played by general surgeon John Ball, who spent his entire consultant career in Broadford, retiring in 1999.

Services

The hospital has 25 in-patient beds and 24-hour on site medical and nursing cover. The hospital provides a 24 hour Accident and Emergency service. It has a single resuscitation room which is normally used for assessment of patients presenting to the hospital with trauma or acute illness. Patients may self-present, may be referred in by their primary care doctor or may be brought in by the ambulance services. There is an x-ray machine with a radiographer on-call 24 hours a day, and various near-patient testing devices available are used in lieu of laboratory tests. Telemedicine is utilised at the site whereby practitioners are able to discuss cases and obtain specialist opinions on diagnosis and management in real time via videoconferencing with specialists based elsewhere in Scotland. Transfers of patients requiring emergency specialist or surgical management to secondary care hospitals such as Raigmore Hospital or tertiary units based in the larger hospitals in the central belt may be undertaken via ambulance or helicopter.
There are a variety of other services based in the hospital at various times of the week, including a fracture clinic, minor surgery, medical day case, midwifery and diagnostic ultrasound.

Rural practitioners

The hospital has 10 medical staff who are designated rural practitioners, general practitioners who have had specialised training in trauma and anaesthetics. For air transfers, a local airfield is used, where fixed-wing aircraft can also land: the helipad at the hospital was closed in 2014 due to safety concerns.