GP Andrew Trevett MBE (SE 1981) arrived in Orkney in 1998 with no plans to specialise in diving medicine. A year later he was medical director of one of only two NHS hyperbaric units in Scotland. This year he was awarded an MBE for services to the Orkney community and diving medicine.

The year before I arrived in Orkney, a fatal accident inquiry into the death of a local diver recommended that the islands should have a hyperbaric facility to treat decompression illness. That recommendation — and a significant subsequent team effort — helped us shape a unit to support those working in and using the waters around the islands.

The need for a local treatment facility is due to the amount of diving activity taking place in Orkney. Scapa Flow, with the remnants of the scuttled German First World War High Seas Fleet lying on its bed, draws recreational divers from across the world. Add the scallop divers, the fish farms and the marine energy industry working Orkney waters, and Stromness — home port to most of the dive boats — was the natural place for a unit.

I moved to Orkney in 1998 with my partner Jill to take up a post as a GP in Stromness, after two years as a rural training fellow in remote and rural general practice. The post was broad, including responsibility for inpatient medical and maternity care in the local hospital in Kirkwall. The addition of diving medicine to these interests came about through circumstance rather than intention.

Within a year we had set up a charitable trust and established a hyperbaric unit, carrying out our first recompression treatment in 1999. 

Since then, we have managed around 800 diving incidents, including more than 500 cases of decompression illness treated by recompression. The unit is staffed with GPs from Stromness practice, internally trained hyperbaric chamber attendants from a range of backgrounds, and a technical team. 

We also work closely with other emergency services including the ambulance service and coastguard, and have a close working relationship with the hyperbaric unit at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. The Orkney Hyperbaric Trust is run by a group of volunteer directors. 

The MBE is humbling. It is, above all, an acknowledgement of the whole team whose commitment and skill have made the service what it is.