Hospital trek would take me two hours
The associate medical director of NHS Lanarkshire, Dr Christopher Mackintosh, has confirmed to me that patients in Rutherglen and Cambuslang can continue to use Glasgow hospitals for tests and treatment.
This follows my experience of being told by my GP at Rutherglen Primary Care Centre that I would have to attend Monklands Hospital in Airdrie – a two-hour journey on two buses and the same back – to have an urgent scan.
Dr Mackintosh states: “In planning the change of boundary, it was agreed at the outset that hospital flows would not change as a direct result of the changes to health board boundaries.
“To this end patients in Rutherglen and Cambuslang can continue to access the same acute hospital services in Glasgow. This continues to be the case.
“I can confirm that as part of the process to change boundaries all GP practices were communicated with.”
Dr Mackintosh has also offered to reaffirm this with the practice concerned.
I still do not know why I was told Monklands by my GP. When I questioned this all I was told was “we’re in NHS Lanarkshire now.”
It seems crystal clear that no one should be told this in relation to hospital tests. Dorothy Connor Rutherglen
cut by three per cent, council budgets have been cut by six per cent.
He fails to mention that the costs of police and fire services have moved from councils to the Scottish Government.
This represents a move of 3.8 per cent of costs away from councils.
Councillor Gerard Killen is then quoted as saying: “Over the last two years the Scottish Government had a £794 million underspend - £444m in 2013-14 and £350m last year”.
His inference is that a total of £794m is lost to the economy.
Actually, while there was £444m underspend in 2013-14, this saved money became available to spend in 2014-15.
The Scottish Government then spent their full budget in 2014-15 plus £70m of the previous year’s saved “underspend”.
So this still leaves £374m of that £444m available to spend over the next years, when the UK will be cutting funding even more. So the £794m figure is meaningless. If these councillors helped make the case against the UK Government austerity policies instead of distractive Scottish in-fighting this would be of greater benefit to the people they are meant to represent. Jim Stamper Rutherglen outside in this weather and there was a Costa machine inside not working so couldn’t get him a tea or a coffee but we got a wee sandwich, crisps and juice deal and stood and chatted to him for a wee while.
He was an ex-soldier from Belfast and is trying to move back there as he can’t get a job or a house here for love nor money.
Before anyone slams me for “all of a sudden caring for the homeless” it’s something I have always cared about. When I was 18 and working in an office in town an elderly woman used to sleep in the doorway of a church in Bath Street and I used to take clothes and food to her in the mornings and have always given to people on the street when I can.
Olly was given money by my dad for the panto and without any prompting gave the man all of his money, saying he hopes it helped his bus fare to Belfast, not really understanding where Belfast is.
He then asked about him at the interval of the panto and after the panto asked if we could go back and see him but he was away.
Now lying here tucked up on the couch, watching ‘ET’ and thinking of the poor guy and hundreds of others out there in that weather.
Olly keeps saying “but we have a spare room and so does gran can he not stay there?”
I’m so, so proud of my wee guy today. He has a huge heart.
I know his pocket money won’t make much difference in the grand scheme of things but it made the guy smile for a second at least. Kirsty Steel via Facebook “I think even Andy Murray said there was not enough spent in tennis,”said Alexandra Cameron from Burnside.“There’s definitely something that can be done. It keeps them off the streets. It can combat obesity and get them playing outside again.”
Missingthepoint
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