Since its inception the use of the medical launch has evolved. Although from the beginning, as the name suggests and the original trust deed indicates, the launch’s role was mainly for medical services, this has become its sole function. Increasing use by medical personnel (such as taking doctors to off-islands for both routine surgeries and in emergencies, routine visits by the district nurse, health visitor, mid wives and patient transport) together with the other services acquiring their own transport has led to today’s truly "medical" launch.
Our main challenge during the forthcoming year is the increasingly urgent need to replace the present vessel and thus this looks to be the beginning of a few years of hard fund raising to achieve this. In our review of the financial status of the Trust we noted the significant contribution made by the islands General Practitioners and the Community Healthcare Trust, but have revised a scale of charges for other users.
