TO CONFIRM: This whole page is unverified. Almost none of it exists on the old site. Nothing below should go live until MICT has checked every entry with the service that provides it, and until the page carries a checked date. An emergency page with a wrong or missing local number is worse than no page.
In an emergency, dial 999
Dial 999 if life is at risk, if someone is seriously ill or injured, if there is a fire, or if a crime is happening now. Ask for ambulance, police, fire or coastguard.
For anyone in trouble at sea, on the shore or on the cliffs, dial 999 and ask for the coastguard.
Stay on the line. In an out-of-hours cardiac arrest the call handler will direct you to the nearest public access defibrillator and will send a Community First Responder if one is free. See Defibrillators.
Other national numbers
| Number | What it is for |
|---|---|
| 999 | Emergencies. Ambulance, police, fire, coastguard. |
| 101 | Police Scotland, when it is not an emergency. |
| 111 | NHS 24, for urgent health advice when your health centre is closed. |
These three are national numbers and apply across Scotland.
Doctors and health centres
TO CONFIRM: The old site holds nothing at all on health services. This section needs, from NHS Highland and from each practice: the name, address, phone number and opening hours of every health centre serving Mull and Iona; how to get an urgent same-day appointment; and what Mull and Iona Community Hospital at Craignure does and does not treat. Do not publish a partial list. A reader who finds one practice named and their own missing will assume theirs has closed.
Out of hours
TO CONFIRM: Out-of-hours arrangements for the islands are not recorded anywhere on the old site, and they are the single most searched-for piece of emergency information in a rural community. Confirm with NHS Highland exactly what happens after the health centres close, at weekends and on public holidays, and how 111 routes an island caller. Write nothing here until that is confirmed in writing.
Community First Responders
Five Community First Responder networks operate in the islands: Iona, the Ross of Mull, Dervaig, Ulva Ferry and Tobermory. Responders are volunteers dispatched by the ambulance service.
TO CONFIRM: Confirm that responders are dispatched only through 999 and are never contacted directly, then say so plainly on this page. Do not publish any responder’s name or personal number. If MICT wants a named contact here, it must be an organisational one.
Coastguard, lifeboat and rescue
Dial 999 and ask for the coastguard.
TO CONFIRM: Decide whether the coastguard rescue teams, the lifeboat station and any hill or coastal rescue cover serving Mull and Iona should be named on this page, and get their preferred public wording from them. Volunteer teams are usually clear that they want the public to call 999 rather than the station.
Pharmacy and prescriptions
TO CONFIRM: Nothing on the old site. Needs pharmacy locations, opening hours, and how urgent or repeat prescriptions are handled in the islands, including at weekends.