Outcry over plan to axe local x-ray service
COUNCILLORS and elderly residents say they’ll fight “horrendous” plans not to provide X-ray facilities at the new Clydebank Health and Care Centre.
The service, used heavily at the current health centre on Kilbowie Road, has not been included in the planning application for the Queens Quay site.
It means people would face travelling to either Gartnavel General Hospital or the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital for an X-ray.
The decision – initially made West Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership project board in November 2016 to “secure the best use of taxpayers’ money” – was described by Councillor Gail Casey as a “backwards step” at a recent planning meeting.
Elderly users of the facility have said losing it would be a “blow” that will “drastically affect people” in the area.
The issue was discussed at the elected members’ meeting after a presentation by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s senior project manager Ian Docherty and the project’s principal architect Jonathan McQuillan.
Councillor Marie McNair, the convener of the health and social care partnership, told the Evening Times’ sister title, the Clydebank Post, she will discuss the issue with the health board.
A spokesperson for West Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership said:
“The Clydebank Health and Care Centre project board, after careful consideration, decided in 2016 that in order to secure the best use of taxpayers’ money and optimise space in the new centre, patients would benefit from the higher quality imaging services already available at Gartnavel.”