Hard to ignore those at sharp end

When is a downgrade not a downgrade? Apparently when it involves the closure of two wards and the removal of trauma and orthopaedic services from Monklands Hospital.

At least that’s the mantra that has been repeated by the board of NHS Lanarkshire during recent weeks.

Last Thursday’s controversial decision will result in hundreds of Monklands patients being transferred to facilities miles away in Wishaw or East Kilbride to receive treatment that’s currently available at their local hospital.

The same hospital which incidentally just happens to be the best-performing of the county’s three main facilities on an almost monotonously consistent basis.

And let’s be clear here, despite the health authority’s insistence that just a single-digit percentage of A&E attendees will be affected, the figure will still run into the high hundreds, many of whom will be elderly, infirm or both.

The move, we are told, will mean improved patient safety and quality of care, which at the end of the day is what everyone wants.

However, many NHS Lanarkshire employees – nurses, doctors, surgeons and consultants – remain far from convinced, claiming the move will compromise, not improve, the safety and care of patients.

When those at the sharp end voice such serious concerns it’s difficult to disregard their opinions over the assertions of others from elsewhere in the organisation.