Surgical consultation extended

A consultation into the future of surgery at Perth Royal Infirmary has been extended.

The consultation, which proposes moving all emergency surgery at NHS Tayside to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee – leaving only planned surgery at PRI – was due to come to a close earlier this week.

But meetings will be held to discuss the proposed changes in Crieff and Kinross.

They will take place on Monday, October 9, at Loch Leven Community Campus in Kinross from 5-7pm, and between the same times on Tuesday, October 12, at Crieff’s Strathearn Community Campus.

A spokesperson for the health board said:“The consultation period will now run until Monday, October 16.

“The proposed transformation of surgical services will create a service that allows NHS Tayside to deliver high-quality care, balancing the number of operations that can be carried out in all three acute hospitals in Tayside [PRI, Ninewells and Strathcathro Hospital in Angus] with patient demand.”

The spokesperson added:“The proposals would mean that all patients in Tayside can access the most appropriate facilities for their elective surgery.

“This also means that more Perth and Kinross elective patients would be treated closer to home at PRI and there would be an enhancement of critical care in the hospital to deal with an increase in major elective surgery.”

Perthshire South and Kinrossshire MSP Roseanna Cunningham said:“I called for and welcome these additional meetings but they really should have been in the programme from the outset.

“The proposals represent significant and important changes to the services provided to the people of my constituency and NHS Tayside need to show that they are taking the views of the public seriously.”

The proposals can be viewed via www.transformingsurgery.scot.nhs. uk or by sending an email to surgicalservices.tayside@nhs.net.