Gartcosh is wrong site for new hospital

Dear Editor, When Neil Gray promised at his first hustings in 2015 to deliver a new hospital to replace Monklands, we all laughed. We’re not laughing now.

The news that Gartcosh was the preferred site for a replacement hospital [Advertiser, June 13] has gone down like a cup of cold sick; no wonder.

Looking about the town with one closed shop after another, then seeing another major employer about to leave, could be the death knell for Airdrie.

Glenmavis as an alternative is not ideal, but at least it retains the health service footprint in roughly the same area, primarily serving Airdrie, Coatbridge and Cumbernauld, even if the public transport links are pitiful.

Can anyone explain to us the logic in moving the hospital from the centre of North Lanarkshire to the western border, where in all likelihood it will become the A&E hospital of choice for the residents of the east of Glasgow?

The current site is centrally located, has rail and bus links and is in walking distance for many people from Airdrie and Coatbridge. Moving it to Gartcosh will put it in walking distance for people from Gartcosh, and that’s about it. When we’re trying to reduce reliance on cars and move to public transport, this makes absolutely no sense!

I checked Traveline Scotland and a trip to Gartcosh from Airdrie either involves an expensive series of bus journeys using multiple companies with incompatible ticketing systems, or getting a train to Bellgrove in Glasgow then another back to Gartcosh! How does that help the poorest in our society who are less likely to own a car?

There is a direct rail line from Coatbridge to Gartcosh with a mere five-minute journey time, but there are no passenger trains running on it; so either way our local hospital will now be over an hour away by public transport and this is simply unacceptable.

Unfortunately it seems it is now health board policy to build new facilities where they aren’t within walking distance to deter use.

Having lived in Edinburgh for a time I know that there is nothing unusual with a health board spreading its services across multiple locations. The difference is that they have a cheap and integrated transport infrastructure to support that.

North Lanarkshire’s shambolic, haphazard system doesn’t, and it’s one of the prime reasons why Monklands Hospital must stay in its present location or, at worst, Glenmavis.

Our town is on life support, and this would finally pull the plug. Our elected representatives – Neil Gray MP in particular who opened this can of worms – must now stand up for Airdrie not only to retain our hospital, but to give us a joined-up transport system so it is accessible for all the residents of Lanarkshire who rely on it, not just car owners.