Campaigners praise involvement in GP service consultation

C A M PA I G N E R S h a v e hailed a decision to involve them in the redesign of Fife’s out-of-hours GP service.

Members of St Andrews Community Council welcomed NHS Fife’s approval of t heir par t i ci pati on request as “very good news”.

A similar bid by Glenrothes campaigners was also accepted.

The request, prompted by a proposal to close evening, overnight and weekend primary care services in St Andrews, was the first ever to be submitted to NHS Fife under the Community Empowerment Act.

Community council vicechairwoman Penelope Fraser, who made the submission, said: “The process to reconsider keeping open the St Andrews outof-hours service and minor injuries unit is under way and we look forward to organising our formal participation as soon as possible.” The request also involved members of the North East Fife Out Of Hours Group.

Chairwoman Dr Angela Anderson claimed a previous options appraisal, which resulted in the service at St Andrews Community Hospital being excluded from consideration, had been flawed.

“We are anxious that Fife Health and Social Care Partnership doesn’t repeat the same mistakes in its methodology and consultation or else it is unlikely to produce a different result, let alone create the possibility for a sustainable and resilient service at St Andrews,” she said.

She urged the partnership to work closely with frontline workers to find a solution.

NHS Fife chairwoman Tricia Marwick said there would need to be very good reasons not to have approved the requests.