Health in all of our hands

Sir, – As you recently published in your newspaper, the public consultation on the future construct of health care in Fife will begin shortly.

I am a member of the Integrated Joint Board (IJB) for Health and Social Care, and was quoted as saying the consultation document was “not fit for purpose”.

Following intensive care, it’s a bit better, but not perfect. An enormous amount of clinical and organisational data has been squeezed and summarised in order to get it to fit into a size that people will read, but the consultation itself is not a sham. It’s a sincere effort to give the public a voice and my quoted comment referred to the quality of the draft document, not the IJB’s intent.

The key challenge is to balance increased demand versus GP/nurse shortage. The status quo is broken and unsafe.

There is also no clear consensus on what combination of urgent out of hours care is most effective and sustainable in the longer term.

The last point is particularly important. The public reaction to this consultation is predictable and can be summarised as a wish for “the best possible care as close to me as possible”.

The consultation document should have spelled out the available resources and the full range of safe, effective and sustainable options that these could support – in other words clear signposting to enable effective public response.

But we are where we are, so I urge people to read the document, attend the public meetings and make their views known.

The two options offered in the document are not the only possible outcomes. It isn’t that clear cut and as far as I am concerned, the only option that is off the table is the status quo.

Just bear in mind that the IJB cannot “magic” more GPs and nurses, and don’t trust anyone who says you can have it all. Cllr Tony Miklinski. Whitehill Farm, Cupar.