YOUR VIEWS: We have nothing but praise for the care at Lynemore

The lead article in last week’s Strathy does not reflect my experience of Lynemore care home in Grantown.

My husband, who has been resident there for three years, is treated firmly but with patience, kindness and respect.

The staff are efficient, professional and cheerful. The premises are immaculately clean and the general facilities superb – quite the opposite of the picture painted in your article.

I suggest that new and especially young staff confronted by the issues associated with the tragedy that is old age may be shocked and saddened by the level of support required by some of the residents.

Hygiene is a continuous battle when residents suffer from

double incontinence and dementia.

Lynemore staff cope with such problems routinely with kindness, dexterity and sympathy.

When a resident has slipped to the bottom of the bed the only way to get them into a seating position for eating is for two staff to lift them into a sitting position.

Some of the residents are determined to escape and occasionally mill around the entrance.

Staff are familiar with this problem and are always available to help visitors leave safely.

Failure in security is most likely to occur when visitors are in such a hurry to leave that they handle door security on their own.

If relatives wish to take issue with standards there are regular relatives and friends meetings with management.

At the last of these meetings there were three attendees – me and two other people who were only there to kill time while waiting for a bus.

Does this reflect the degree of satisfaction felt by relatives or is it just disinterest?

I think that it is worth remembering that our cantankerous old loved ones are only there because they became too difficult for us to care for at home.

Well done and many thanks to Lynemore and its staff.

Lesley Badger

Grantown.

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Move to nett zero but not at all cost

It was good to see a balanced and formulated article in the Strathy (August 10) from Kate Forbes MSP.

As the UK and Scotland contend with inflation, quantative easing, draw down, rising costs for goods and services, is it not time to address the real costs of a Net Zero policy?

The 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel cars is unsustainable because Scotland and the wider UK, no matter how many platitudes we hear from governments, are not prepared.

It is like someone had a thought and then pulled a date out of a hat without considering anything else.

Let’s consider some of these such as power grid upgrades, hard and soft infrastructure requirements, loss of excise and fuel duty revenues, damage to the roads network. The list goes on.

When I was a young man and setting out on my work life my first wage packet came in a small brown envelope with some cash.

On the top line there would be the total hours worked and the hourly rate which gave the ‘gross wage’.

Then came the deductions, the bad stuff like tax, NIC, and superannuation, followed by everything else that you had signed up for. That left the ‘nett wage’ after deductions.

So, what are the deductions that we need to sacrifice for the sake of Net Zero? Here’s just one: go and find out how much water is needed to process one tonne of lithium.

I am no sceptic when it comes to change but at any cost? No. The first electric vehicle I drove was over 50 years ago and I know they have their place.

As Kate Forbes says, there needs to be transition and a better thought out transition, where the move to more electrification takes industry and public opinion with it.

If we really want to help then we need to do the joined up thinking and look a little outside of the box.

Mark Duncan

Aviemore.

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Pointing the way on the A9

I travel often on the A9 from Doune to Inverness. Some years ago, I suggested to the then Transport Minister, that directional arrows be painted on two-way stretches of the A9 to remind drivers, including foreign drivers, that they were now on a two-way road.

I received a polite but negative reply.

Whilst the idea wouldn’t solve the many dangers of the A9, I believe it could help towards improving safety.

Bobbie Dickie

Doune.

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Is Cairngorms park plan just a wish list?

I am puzzled that the Cairngorms National Park Authority’s planning committee has approved in principle the building of a block of 18 self catering two bedroom holiday apartments in Aviemore, to replace former staff accommodation.

The current Park Plan approved by Ministers has the aspirations or ambitions to increase the proportion of the population of working age (who will need housing) to increase the amount, in perpetuity, of affordable long term accommodation to ensure:

• that 75 per cent of new housing is for social renting or mid-market use;

• to secure that by 2040 a maximum of 15 per cent of housing should be second homes or short term lets; and

• that the number of visitors to the park should not increase above present levels at peak periods.

This decision does nothing to help these aspirations and indeed is inconsistent with them. Is the CNPA to be guided by its own plan or is it just a wish list?

Peter Mackay

Dunachton Road

Kincraig.

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A9 guaranteed to get politicians into media

It’s somewhat amazing how the ever expanding A9 action grouping has gathered such media attention.

However, as illustrated recently in the Strathy most of the people now flocking to the cause are unionists, led by that genial but arch Tory Jackson Carlaw.

Sadly the majority of tragic A9 accidents have shown to be in line with the words of the police and motoring organisations, that it is not the fault of the road but rather bad driving.

I believe the indomitable Fergus Ewing and his supporters would generate near zero media coverage if he was to champion independence again and support, albeit critically, the SNP led Scottish Government.

Grant Frazer

Newtonmore.

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Energy storage barely scratches the surface

Dermot Williamson has the appalling delusion that pumped hydro and other energy storage technologies will solve the problem that solar and wind are highly variable (letters, August 10).

UK primary energy consumption (all energy, not just electricity) in 2021 was 1,978,000 GWh (gigawatt hours).

How many GWh of storage would we need to smooth out renewable generation?

A week’s worth of consumption? A month’s worth?

The answer is that nobody really knows.

Let’s do a calculation. Let’s say that two weeks’ worth would be needed. This would be 76,076 GWh of storage.

Compare that to what the UK already has, four major pumped hydro schemes totalling 30 GWh and a small amount of batteries totalling 1 GWh, roughly. Total is a miniscule 31 GWh.

Clearly this engineering challenge is not viable, never mind the cost.

Geoff Moore

Alness.

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Save lives on A9 killer road using our money

Re the Strathy online article: ‘First Minister quizzed over A9 dualling by Inverness man who held someone as they died after collision’.

I will believe it when I see it as far as the dualling goes. It is a disgrace that after all these years so little progress made to improve the safety on these killer roads. And to use the excuse of climate? Yet more dishonesty from the SNP.

What about saving our lives with our money.

Kate Murray

Stonehaven.

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There will still be fatal crashes after dualling

What people seem to forget is that the A9 road is not dangerous. It is the drivers who are dangerous.

Accidents and unfortunately deaths will probably still occur after it is dualled.

Frank Anderson

Livingston.

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CO2 emission claims are just a red herring

Why do people keep using the climate as an excuse for not dualling the A9?

The same traffic will use the road whether single or dual carriageway but being dualled means these people will be travelling safely.

Joan Fraser

North Kessock.

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