MSP’s letter to health chairman about Auchinlee

Sir, I am writing in the light of the Argyll and Bute Council motion last Thursday and the subsequent letter from Cleland Sneddon to the Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership Integrated Joint Board (IJB) and to CrossReach.

Your chief officer has not responded to my previous email, although Peter Bailey from CrossReach responded very promptly indeed. It is clear that all those involved want a period of further discussion and negotiation.

There is a clear request to you and CrossReach to ensure that Auchinlee remains open and that no notice of closure is given or accepted.

I ask you to respond positively to that request, not least to give some relief from worry to the relatives of those presently in Auchinlee.

The council said it would like to accelerate the holding of the proposed care summit and my office will be in touch with the council today.

It will require the IJB to take part constructively and wholeheartedly in the event whenever it is held and we will be in touch. The events of this week have confirmed my view that the IJB remains unable to recognise the need for accountability, openness and the development of trust despite promises made during pre- vious difficulties including that of Struan Lodge. That is immensely regrettable but has triggered the need for me to make that point publicly and to the cabinet secretary for health.

The IJB actions under your convenership are not, in my view, in accordance with best democratic practice and best governance and do not fulfil the expectations of the integration process we all had. Michael Russell, MSP.