A SENIOR health board official has volunteered to personally plug a gap in emergency cover in his island community amid wider concerns about out-of-hours care.

Dr Angus McKellar, medical director at NHS Western Isles, has signed up to cover for ambulances when they are out of the Isle of Harris area in an emergency. Other GPs, nurses and paramedics on Harris have also offered to step in in such a situation when they are off-duty.

The move comes after concerns about out-of-hours medical cover on the islands, with some locals claiming seriously ill patients have been left without treatment for long periods while waiting for a response from NHS 24.

However, the health board has said that the list of volunteers was an addition to the out-of-hours service already provided by NHS 24 and would hopefully "reassure" the local community.

Dr McKellar, who lives on the island, said there had been "very positive engagement" at a meeting of the Harris Locality Planning Group, attended by Primary Care Manager Christine McKee.

"Any change is always difficult for a community and it's very important that we work together to identify the strengths of the current out-of-hours service - in order to sustain this - and identify areas of concern where improvements may be needed," said Dr McKellar.

"I'm pleased to confirm that three improvements have been agreed and are being pursued. Namely, that a list is being put together of off-duty GPs, paramedics and nurse practitioners who are prepared to be called by the Scottish Ambulance Service in the event of the ambulance being out of area in an emergency.

"I have put my name on that list - as a GP, not medical director - and so has Anthony Latham (another Harris GP). The SAS have also confirmed that all Tarbert-based staff - including technicians as well as paramedics - are willing to be called during off-duty periods.

"I'm delighted with this development. I think it's a good move."

Dr McKellar, whose wife Kirsty is also a family doctor, said that GP out-of-hours care and a community unscheduled care nurse was also available to patients.

He said: "A third development is that the SAS have confirmed they are willing to work with us to train up paramedics in order to provide initial assessments of patients, in necessary, who need to be seen promptly but not as emergencies.

"This would provide additional capacity and would potentially remove the need for Community Unscheduled Care Nurses to travel down from Stornoway. This is dependent on further training and will take some time to implement."

Western Isles MSP Alasdair Allan said: "I think everybody accepts that this isn't a service that would be used very often but I'm certainly pleased if the health board are able to offer somebody in this area.

"I think it's a step forward."

But Jinty Morrison, chairwoman of the Western Isles Carers, Users and Supporters Network, highlighted the treatment of one elderly patient who was apparently left in pain for hours after phoning NHS 24.

She said the list of volunteer medical staff to help cover the SAS service did not fully resolve the problem.

She added: "What we have asked the health board is what are they doing about the problem of NHS 24? It's not good enough to say it is all down to NHS 24 - the health board need to reassure the public."

A spokesman for NHS Western Isles said: "The move by Dr McKellar, who lives in Harris, is completely voluntary, informal and unpaid. It is not connected in any way to the rota of doctors who provide the out-of-hours service connected to NHS24.

"This new list of volunteers does not replace any element of the out-of-hours service but is an addition to it - and hopefully, for the community, a reassuring one."