Rural patients travelling 300 miles three-days-a week for dialysis due to staff crisis
Health officials are struggling to recruit trained staff to run the only dialysis unit in Kintyre.
Sometimes described as the “end of the line”, Campbeltown, with a population of about 4,500, is one of Scotland’s more remote communities when it comes to access to vital services.
But for residents needing dialysis, a lack of local renal expertise is forcing unwell patients to make a roughly 300-mile round trip to Glasgow three times a week for treatment.
A severe shortage of staff forced the essential dialysis service at Campbeltown Hospital to end earlier this summer.
With winter approaching, and unpredictable conditions on the infamous Rest and Be Thankful road en route to the city, patients and their loved ones in Kintyre are growing increasingly concerned that roughly seven-hour round trip, which costs the NHS around £300 per patient per day, could take even longer.
For local couple Moyra and Peter Paterson, the long-distance journey is already taking its toll.
“Peter has been going up to Glasgow for about six weeks now and it’s just gruelling,” said Mrs Paterson, who runs her own cafe, the Putt Stop, in Southend at the tip of the Kintyre peninsula.
“Recently he was really unwell and had to be flown to Glasgow on a Saturday night. The doctor who was on duty said part of the reason he was struggling more was because of all the travelling, which is exacerbating his situation.
“There are about four people going up each week from the town, but it’s not just Campbeltown. People are travelling from all over, from the islands and rural areas.”
Home dialysis is out of the question for the Patersons because their house is not suitable for the equipment.
“We live really rurally and our water supply isn’t brilliant and the power supply goes off and on,” she said.
“Our water also freezes a lot in the winter so it just wouldn’t work.
“You also need three months’ intensive training to do it and I run my own business at the moment and I don’t have the time to do that.”
Although flights are available from Campbeltown to Glasgow, Mrs Paterson said the departure times do not correspond with her husband’s dialysis appointments.
“The hospitals in Glasgow are overflowing and it is a real struggle to get a regular appointment at an okay time,” she said.
“For a while Peter’s appointment was at 7am, which meant he had to get up at 2am to leave at 3am and that was horrific. Now he has a permanent appointment at 1pm three days a week, which is better. We feel lucky to have that one.”
The dialysis unit at Campbeltown first opened in 2015 after a hard-fought campaign by the Kintyre Kidney Dialysis Group (KKDG), which saw the community raise £100,000 to establish the service.
The unit was mothballed in 2024 after local health officials said there were no local users. When Mr Paterson lost his kidney function, the community campaigned again for it to reopen.
An agency staff member was brought in until the hospital established a permanent position. However, the person offered the role then decided against taking it, leaving the unit without staff to run it.
“The hospital were then bringing in more agency staff from Glasgow but they couldn’t get any consistency or anyone here regularly, so they decided to stop it again this summer for safety issues and send everyone to Glasgow again instead,” Mrs Paterson said.
“I know the hospital are really trying to recruit, they really have tried. I would like to see them try and train local people too and bring them up to standard to do the job.”
Mrs Paterson has since joined the KKDG as treasurer and said campaigners are looking at options to establish a unit in Lochgilphead, which could provide a more central location for patients across Argyll.
In a letter seen by The Scotsman, Evan Beswick, chief officer of NHS Highland and Argyll & Bute Health and Social Care Partnership, confirmed that four recruitment attempts had been made to staff the Campbeltown dialysis unit since September 2025.
He said several candidates had initially shown interest but declined the post “primarily due to the challenges associated with relocating to a remote rural area”.
Mr Beswick said the availability of qualified renal agency nurses was limited and that officials were exploring ways to develop a local workforce.
Responding to concerns from residents that the unit could close permanently, he said: “I would like to reassure them that no decision has been taken to permanently close the facility.
“A wider review of dialysis services across Argyll and Bute has been underway to consider how best to provide safe, sustainable and accessible dialysis services for the future.
“As part of that work, maintaining local access for patients in remote areas such as Kintyre has been recognised as an important consideration.”
Argyll and Bute MSP Jenni Minto said she will be raising the situation in the Scottish Parliament chamber next week to push for “an urgent solution.”
“l think this situation is disgraceful and is putting unnecessary strain on those requiring dialysis in South Kintyre,” she said.
A spokesperson from the Scottish Government said: “”We recognise that NHS Highland’s dialysis capacity in Argyll and Bute has been increasingly tested and continue to work with NHS Boards to limit the need for travel where possible and clinically appropriate.
“Where travel is necessary, the Scottish Government expects NHS Boards to work collaboratively with each other and transport providers to make suitable arrangements to ensure that the necessary treatment can be provided in a patient-centred way.”
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