Hospitalconsultation

Dear Editor,

I followed up the NHS reference points given in the article on University

Hospital Monklands and the public consultation process [Advertiser,

February 12].

My initial reaction is that the public consultation process is extremely complicated.

It would seem that the NHS is not really interested in the opinions of the people of Monklands as they have made the process convoluted, obtuse and something that could not really be followed by the overwhelming majority of the area’s residents.

Why the complexity? Why not give the public a simple referendum-style choice in a public ballot – “do you want the new hospital to be located in X, Y or Z?”

In truth, it is perverse to include

Gartcosh in this choice as its G69 postcode confirms that it is in Glasgow and therefore not best suited to serve the people of Monklands.

And I trust that the residents of Monklands will remember who to vote for at the next election if the hospital is sited in Glasgow.

Also, is the NHS going to give the contract for building the new

Monklands Hospital to Brookfield

Multiplex, who also built the Queen

Elizabeth University Hospital in

Glasgow and the Royal Hospital for

Children in Edinburgh?

If so, I truly believe that Monklands may get a hospital which will be of poor quality, much delayed, over-priced and go over budget – and for some, as happened in the Queen Elizabeth

University Hospital, a real danger to the health of its patients.

Karl Montgomery, via email