**Letter originally published in The Press and Journal on 3 June 2022:
Dear Editor,
I sure everyone across the Highlands will welcome the good news that our Pre-hospital Immediate Care & Trauma team (PICT) has received additional funding to allow them to continue to operate seven days a week, rather than the four days a week that would have resulted from the proposed budget cut.
This team takes doctors to the scenes of accidents allowing vital treatment to be given to patients before they are taken to hospital. Often this treatment will be life saving and sometimes it will even mean that a trip to the hospital is not required.
Sadly the additional funding will only keep the team fully operational until September 2022.
I am committed to ensuring full funding to keep our PICT Team operational seven days a week and it is in all of our interests to do so, for no other reason than we don’t know when we might need them.
To help the campaign to keep our PICT Team it would be really helpful to hear from anyone who has experienced the high-quality care the PICT team have provided. If you are able to share your ‘PICT experience’ with me, you can contact me confidentially through my Regional Office on 01463 230777 or my Parliamentary Office on 0131 348 6143.
I really need to hear from you to build their case so please do get in touch, your support could result in saving someone else’s life.
Kind regards,
Edward Mountain MSP, Highlands and Islands Region
