A local teenager who helped save the lives of two yachtsmen has been presented with a prestigious lifesaving award. Edinburgh Academy pupil Robyn Dougall, 15, is a volunteer rescue boat driver on the Forth and she was presented with her award at a gala dinner on Saturday (1 February).
As part of her duties with the Royal Forth Yacht Club at Granton, Robyn helped rescue a man who had been swept into the sea last summer and also assisted in rescuing another sailor who had fallen overboard in the sea near Leith.
During other rescue missions also helped save five yachts which were in danger in the Forth waters so Robyn’s Young Volunteer of the Year award from the Royal Yachting Association Scotland is richly deserved!
The first rescue she was involved with came after she spotted a man who had fallen overboard during a yachting festival on the Forth last summer.
She said: “We were helping out with the yacht races in force seven winds and we got a radio call to say a guy had got swept overboard. I found the boat, pointed it out and we got to him. He probably only had few minutes because he wasn’t wearing a life jacket.”
Robyn’s father Ken, who started teaching Robyn when she was aged eight, said he was “very proud” of his daughter’s achievements.
Scotland rugby star Gavin Hastings hosted the Farewell to Victoria event back in 2012
It was closed and earmarked for sell-off but after a rethink it seems that the Royal Victoria Hospital will be providing services for a while yet …
NHS Lothian confirmed its commitment to retaining the Royal Victoria Hospital for the medium to long-term earlier this year. Wards in the hospital are currently being used to provide additional winter capacity and plans are now being developed to use the facility to provide flexibility in the number of beds available for older peoples’ services.
Between £0.5 and £0.75 million has been invested to improve the accommodation and infrastructure within the hospital to ensure it meets the needs of patients and staff and complies with infection control and health and safety standards.
Following board approval, detailed plans will be developed to transfer appropriate services from other sites such as the Astley Ainslie Hospital and Corstorphine Hospital to the newly refurbished and upgraded wards in the Royal Victoria Hospital.
Patients, families and staff will be fully engaged in this process and support will be provided to ensure the transfer of patients is as smooth as possible.
Melanie Johnson, Director of Unscheduled Care, said: “The significant investment in improving the facilities at the Royal Victoria Hospital has been made easier by the fact the Hospital has not been fully operational. We are now looking at how we can make the best used of the Royal Victoria Hospital once the demand for additional winter beds reduces.
“Moving some services from the Astley Ainslie Hospital and Corstorphine Hospital will allow us to continue to provide safe, high quality care for patients in a more modern healthcare environment. We will be working with patients and their families as well as our staff to develop these plans over the coming months.”
Two wards were re-opened in the Royal Victoria Hospital in November 2012 to provided additional capacity, and since two more wards have been upgraded with another two currently being refurbished. This will provide around 120 beds in total with a mix of single rooms and four or six bedded bays.
The growing population in Lothian – in particular the number of people living into their 80s and 90s with complex long-term conditions – has required NHS Lothian to review previous decisions on which sites to develop or dispose of.
NHS Lothian’s long-term plan is to concentrate on developing four key hospital sites and the proximity of the Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) to the Western General Hospital has also played a part in the decision to investigate services moving to the RVH. The RVH will be incorporated into the master planning of the Western General Hospital site.
