Joint effort needed in hospital battle

Dear Editor, Having read the offering from Janet Gordon [Advertiser View, September 26], I felt bound to reply to set straight the inaccuracies of her comments.

To clarify, I am not an SNP supporter, I just want the best hospital for the people of this area.

First, Richard Leonard and his fellow Labour elected members were contacted by Neil Gray MP and Alex Neil MSP the week prior to August 13, to ask them to join forces on that date to launch a joint campaign against NHS Lanarkshire’s proposed Gartcosh move.

Mr Leonard did not reply, instead he started his own petition the day before the campaign launch date in a bid to get first shot at any publicity.

Rather than joining forces and presenting a united front, as Messers Gray and Neil had hoped, Labour decided to go it alone.

While keeping the hospital where it is would be a great outcome, the SNP appear realistic enough to know that to have a state-of-the-art facility, which whilst being built will not have any impact on patients or staff, it may be necessary to look at other sites such as Glenmavis – hence the “keep University Hospital Monklands in central Monklands” slogan.

Second, if Labour are “the only people fighting for [the] hospital”, how come Mr Leonard and his cronies did not speak up at the public meetings in Airdrie town hall?

Mr Gray and Mr Neil attended both sessions and, whatever your political persuasions, you could not doubt that they spoke with passion, put forward many well-reasoned arguments and offered factual opposition to NHS Lanarkshire’s consultation details.

SNP and Labour are united in the view that Gartcosh is a non-starter as far as Monklands folk are concerned, so let’s put this political point-scoring aside and focus on the need for a new hospital and the fight to change the health board’s mind.

Mrs E McCallum, via email