Labour calls for clarity on city health services
Political Correspondent THE Health Secretary, Shona Robison has been challenged to make a statement on the future of key health services in Glasgow before Parliament breaks for the summer.
Labour has called on the minister to outline her plans for services the health board wants to close but which campaigners are arguing to keep.
Earlier this month, Greater Glasgow Health Board confirmed its plan to shut Lightburn Hospital in the east end.
There is also concern over the future of the west end Minor Injuries Unit, which has been shut since December.
It was sited at Yorkhill, but services were moved to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital to help cope with extra pressure over the winter.
Now Labour’s health spokesman, Anas Sarwar, has called on Ms Robison to give answers to patients and staff to avoid a “summer of uncertainty”.
He said: “The future of a range of services are in the balance. It would be disgraceful to leave staff and patients hanging on over the summer while SNP ministers plot their next move on independence.”
Parliament breaks for the sum- mer recess on Thursday until September but he said patients need answers on the future of local services.
Mr Sarwar a Glasgow MSP, said: “A decade of SNP mismanagement of our NHS has left staff overworked, undervalued and under resourced, while the government refuses to lift the pay cap for NHS staff, and hospital services are threatened with closure.
“The first step in addressing that is to clear the in-tray before the summer recess and giving patients some reassurance.”
Labour is also seeking assurances over the children’s ward at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley and maternity services at the Inverclyde Royal Hospital and the Vale of Leven Hospital in West Dunbartonshire.
The final decision on closing Lightburn will rest with Ms Robi- son. The hospital was saved in 2011 when Nicola Sturgeon was Health Secretary.
She overturned the board’s decision and told it to instead invest to maintain services at the hospital.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has said health services have changed considerably since then and patients will get a better service i n the community through closure.