Closure of children’s ward is ‘Sturgeon’s Nick Clegg moment’

A DECISION by the SNP to close a busy children’s hospital ward has been branded Nicola Sturgeon’s ‘Nick Clegg moment’ after she previously claimed there were no plans to axe the unit.

Health Secretary Shona Robison yesterday confirmed she had granted permission for Ward 15 at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley to shut – despite a long-running campaign by families to save it.

Services for many ill youngsters will now be moved to Glasgow, sparking a massive backlash in the Renfrewshire town.

MSPs have branded the decision a ‘betrayal’ of the community.

Scottish Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs questioned whether the First Minister had deliberately ‘misled the public before an election’ after she told voters in 2016 that the ward would not close.

In a television debate before the Holyrood poll, Miss Sturgeon said there were ‘no proposals to close that particular ward’, adding: ‘I believe in local services with access for local people.’

Mr Briggs hit out at the First Minister last night after it emerged her government had failed to stand by the promise.

He said: ‘I believe that today will go down as Nicola Sturgeon’s and the Health Secretary’s Nick Clegg moment in this parliament.’

He was referring to the former Liberal Democrat leader who infamously broke his pledge not to hike university tuition fees south of the Border when he entered into a coalition government with the Tories in 2010.

Mr Briggs also accused Miss Sturgeon of ‘breaking a key election pledge made to families across the West of Scotland’.

During a debate at Holyrood yesterday, Miss Robison said that she had given ‘long and hard consideration’ to the decision to close the ward, and claimed it had been ‘one of the most difficult’ she had been forced to make. But the Health Secretary added that the plan, put forward by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, was based on clinical advice – and was in the best interest of the children requiring treatment.

Miss Robison said: ‘I have carefully considered all of the information available to me, and all of the representations made to me, including the board’s submissions, advice and evidence provided by officials and expert clinical advice. The board has made a compelling case for these proposals, which have attracted overwhelming clinical support.’ But Mr Briggs added: ‘It’s more evidence that the SNP simply can’t be trusted when it comes to maintaining children’s hospital facilities.’

Scottish Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar raised the case of local mother Karen Meikle, who told a local newspaper that the decision to close the children’s ward in Paisley risked ‘killing’ her seriously ill son.

Miss Meikle, 31, said the move would mean that eight-year-old Alex, who has cerebral palsy, would lose out on care.

Mr Sarwar said: ‘Now the closure is confirmed and 8,000 cases will be transferred to the already overstretched Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

‘This is a result of cuts imposed by this Government and a workforce crisis overseen by this Government.

‘The Cabinet Secretary’s decision is a betrayal of local people. How can we trust a word she or her government says ever again?’