Time for U-turn on T3 scandal

With the colder months approaching, the strains on our local hospitals and wider health service will increase once again.

The dedicated staff in our NHS are doing their best but unless more support is forthcoming from the Scottish Government it will become even more difficult to treat patients with the care they need.

NHS Lanarkshire has to cut £113 million from their budget leading up to 2018/19. That has resulted in staff being overstretched and facilities struggling to cope or being shut down altogether.

This is something we know all too well, having lost a number of services from Monklands in the past few years, including orthopaedics and trauma, acute psychiatric in-patients and dermatology.

Recent research from Labour has highlighted the serious risk of doctor shortages at Monklands, Hairmyres and Wishaw hospitals, which has contributed to 2844 people waiting longer than four hours at Monklands A&E last year.

NHS Lanarkshire has cited capacity problems causing delays in a number of departments, including orthopaedics and ophthalmology.

Due to these delays I have been speaking to constituents about the Scottish Government’s 12-week legally binding treatment time guarantee, introduced in 2011.

Since then more than 6000 patients have waited longer than 12 weeks for treatment in Lanarkshire, including nearly 3000 in orthopaedics alone.

In 2013 only one orthopaedic patient waited over 12 weeks but by 2016 this had risen to 1581. Clearly this problem is getting worse every year and we shouldn’t forget that those patients are waiting in severe pain and discomfort.

Another issue which has arisen is that people, mainly women, suffering from an underactive thyroid who are currently taking liothyronine (T3) may have this life-saving medicine withdrawn due to cost.

It’s officially admitted that 5-10 per cent of patients on the usual treatment of synthetic thyroxine “do not do well”, with many unable to convert it.

Given that T3 can only be recommended by a consultant endocrinologist, NHS Lanarkshire are defying medical opinion, going against the maxim of “do no harm” and condemning patients to a painful, debilitating and

NHS Lanarkshire are defying medical opinion and condemning patients to a long-term deterioration in their health