NHS chief denies rumours hospital to be downgraded

SENIOR staff members from NHS Highland have vehemently denied rumours that the Lorn and Islands District General Hospital in Oban will be downgraded.

The pledge came at Monday’s Oban Community Council meeting, where four members of the Argyll and Bute Community Health Partnership were invited along to discuss fears that the level of care was reducing at the hospital.

Any ward amalgamations will only occur because of Scottish Government policy, which aims to shift care from hospital to a home-based setting, they said.

NHS Highland has previously admitted that it plans to have one medical unit within the hospital, rather than two, with the one unit retaining all functions that exist at present, plus a fourbed medical assesment unit. The health board is aiming to save £17 million over the next three years.

Robin Creelman, non- executive director of NHS Highland, said: ‘I am not aware of a discus- sion about the downgrading of the Lorn and The Isles Hospital, it will remain one of six rural hospitals in Scotland.

‘There will always be a balance of care between hospital care, nursing home care and care in the community, and hospital and nursing home beds are obviously expensive. But any resultant losses in beds is from the ethos of shifting the balance of care.

‘No beds will be lost if there is clinical need for them, it will only be if it is safe to run a ward without them.’

Community councillor Lorne MacLeod asked if there could be reassurances that the budget would flow from hospital care to care in the community as the care shifted.

Mr Creelman said: ‘Over the past year, since the Scottish Government published its shifting-the-balance- of- care plans, the NHS has released money taken up in unused beds into care in the community, and will continue to do so.’

Mr Creelman added that the NHS had a no ‘compulsory redundancy’ policy and would always look to avoid any staff losses where possible.

Town councillors were pleased to hear the status of the hospital would not be affected.

Roddy McCuish, chairman of Argyll and Bute Council’s Oban, Lorn and the Isles Area Committee, said: ‘ We need to get firmly behind the hospital. It is a huge part of all our lives. I would urge people to not only get behind the hospital, but if they have worries, then ask the NHS.’

Mr MacLeod responded: ‘I don’t think to make any apologies about our scrutiny of the health board. It is one of the most important topics in our local community.’