Nordic co-operation provides project funding

Four transnational projects involving Highlands and Islands partners, worth approximately £3 million, have been approved by the European Union's Northern Periphery Programme. The projects will include support for rural healthcare, maritime safety and the development of spatial planning tools.

The 'Ambulance Transport and Services in Rural Areas' (ATSRuAr) project will bring together experiences from across the partner countries of north Scotland, Sweden and Iceland. The partners will carry out an analysis of the logistics of ambulance transport and emergency care in rural areas and will establish best practice in order to bring positive change for the patient.

Another project looking at provision of healthcare is 'Sustainable Rural Health Care Networks', which will examine and pilot a number of approaches to address the sustainable provision of high quality health services, specific to the needs of the rural populations in the Northern Periphery. The project has at its core a holistic approach, focusing on patient pathways and on delivering care to high-risk groups who are likely to have frequent unplanned admission to hospital, such as older people. 

It also aims to develop 'expert patients' a relatively new idea in Scotland but common in other parts of the world. Individuals with long term chronic health problems use the skills and personal knowledge they have developed over the years in managing their own health problems to educate other patients and health care staff in the how best to manage their condition.

Josephine Stojak, service general manager for Argyll and Bute, NHS Argyll and Clyde, said: "I am delighted to hear of the success of our proposal, which will allow us to pilot a new service model and learn from international partners by participating in a network of rural health care providers. I am particularly pleased that the project will allow us to develop an expert patient programme which is aimed at empowering patients with chronic diseases such as asthma or stroke to take greater control of their treatments and health care."

The Maritime Coastguard Agency is leading the 'Safety at Sea' project which will work to enhance maritime safety in the Northern Periphery. The partners will co-ordinate with the Maritime Safety Umbrella Operation working to create more awareness of the Universal Automatic Identification System (AIS). Also working to assess attitudes to safety aboard fishing vessels developing possible programmes of intervention, to enhance co-operation and co-ordination of the response to a passenger ship emergency and to assess the future development of maritime safety topics ensuring dissemination of lessons learned.
 
Commenting on the project, Dave Jardine-Smith, emergency response liaison officer, Maritime and Coastguard Agency, said: "This project seeks to enhance maritime safety in the Northern Periphery, an area truly on the edge of Europe, with a climate that is frequently harsh, a sparse population and complicated topography. In this sense, the project is supporting key industries operating in this area, as well as developing measures that will help protect its rich natural environment. The project will have a direct and indirect impact on environmental, social and economic concerns. 

"Elements of all three of the main strands are to do with preventing or mitigating environmental damage. The use of AIS for traffic monitoring purposes, improving fishing vessel safety culture and response to passenger ships in difficulty leading to fewer sinkings or strandings and associated damage to the marine and coastal environment. And preventing or mitigating socioeconomic damage by supporting safer maritime trade of all kinds, particularly as regards fishing vessel crews and the passengers and crews of ferries and cruise ships." 

'Spatial North' is concerned with large-scale spatial planning, and includes partners in the Highlands and Islands, Iceland, Vaesternorrland in Sweden, and Northern Karelia in Finland.  The project will benefit the partner regions both by informing strategic planning within each region and more widely through the development of a 'toolbox' of good practices.

Dr Martin Price, director of UHI Millennium Institute Centre for Mountain Studies, said: "In the Highlands and Islands, all of the councils are involved, as are the Crofters Commission, Forestry Commission, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), and the Scottish Executive. 

"The project provides a unique opportunity to bring together the perspectives of the different organisations and to use the information they hold more strategically. This will be especially important in the context of future European funding for the Highlands and Islands."

These recent approvals bring the overall commitment figure for the programme up to 98 per cent. This significantly reduces the budget available for the next round, which has a deadline of 12th September 2005. So applications under priorities one and two only are invited.  Applications to priority three are currently suspended due to 100 per cent commitment of funds under this priority.

Link to Northern Periphery Programme web site