Fraserburgh sits at the very tip of Aberdeenshire, where the North Sea meets the Moray Firth. It is one of the most geographically isolated towns in mainland Scotland, and for the thousands of residents living with long-term conditions — diabetes, COPD, heart disease, arthritis, fibromyalgia, and more — that isolation has historically come with a real cost. Every routine check-in, every question about a new symptom, every conversation about adjusting a management plan has meant a journey. To Peterhead. To Aberdeen. Hours on a bus or in a car, often while already unwell, for an appointment that might last twenty minutes.
Vibrant Health Advocates – Juno was founded specifically to change that equation. Our programme offers structured, ongoing remote support to people in and around Fraserburgh who are living with one or more long-term health conditions. Through a combination of scheduled phone calls, video consultations, and digital resources, we connect people with trained health advocates who can help them understand their condition, navigate the health system, build practical self-management skills, and feel genuinely supported between clinical appointments.
The programme is built around the understanding that managing a long-term condition is not just a medical task — it is a daily, whole-life undertaking. Our advocates are not there to replace GPs or nurses. They are there to help people make the most of the clinical care they do receive, to identify problems early before they escalate, and to provide the kind of consistent, human relationship that the NHS simply does not have the capacity to offer at scale.
Over recent months we have worked with participants managing everything from Type 2 diabetes to chronic pain syndromes, from post-cardiac-event recovery to the complex fatigue conditions that often follow long illness. Each person receives an initial assessment and a personalised support plan, which is reviewed regularly and adjusted as their needs change. Some participants speak to their advocate weekly; others monthly. The frequency is theirs to choose.
What consistently emerges from our conversations with participants is how much the accessibility of the support matters. Being able to pick up the phone on a Tuesday morning, without booking a fortnight in advance, without arranging childcare or transport, without taking a day off work — that accessibility transforms what support actually means in practice. It becomes something people can genuinely use, rather than something they intend to use but keep putting off.
We are currently accepting referrals from GPs, community nurses, and self-referrals from Fraserburgh and the surrounding AB43 and AB44 postcodes. If you or someone you care for is managing a long-term condition and would benefit from more consistent support, we would love to hear from you. No one in this part of Scotland should have to manage a serious health condition in isolation.
