NHS closures may be best for patient care, warn doctors
HOSPITALS and services may have to be axed to make the best use of scarce NHS resources, senior doctors have warned.
The closures and reduced treatments may be ‘essential’ in the face of limited funding, according to the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE).
It says even though some services are ‘cherished’ by the public, the Scottish Government needs to make ‘courageous’ decisions on whether to keep them going.
The move comes amid controversial proposals to close Lightburn Hospital in Glasgow, while other services around the country could disappear as part of a shift towards regional ‘centres of excellence’.
Despite a public backlash against closures, the RCPE says this may be the right way forward for the best patient care. In a submission to the Scottish parliament’s health committee on the NHS budget, the RCPE states: ‘With limited national wealth, decision-makers must realise that the removal of redundant, although cherished facilities, practices and remedies is essential.
‘There is ample evidence about the right, and most valuable, interventions to prioritise. This involves choice and taking a population approach in proportion to needs. Additional resources should be deployed to sustain high-value services and interventions. Even these are under threat ... for example in the failure to meet targets for care for life-threatening and urgent conditions. Care should be taken with technological or pharmaceutical developments which deliver small benefits.’
There are even fears that decisions to keep hospitals open are not being taken for the best clinical reasons but to avoid a backlash.
The statement adds: ‘There is the background of expectation that care services will cope.
‘This is persistently misleading and leads to inappropriate investment decisions and failure to take courageous decisions to set and stick with priorities.’
Scottish Conservative public health spokeswoman Annie Wells said: ‘This reveals the true extent of Scotland’s NHS woes.
‘It’s hugely worrying that medical leaders feel that the best way to provide a better health service in Scotland is by making serious closures.
‘For too long now health boards have been struggling due to a lack of support from the SNP – it simply has to address these issues as a matter of urgency.’
A Government spokesman said: ‘People are now living longer lives, which means our health and care services must change to aid increasingly more people living with multiple, complex conditions.’