There is a gaping hole in emergency provision north of the Clyde

THE Vale of Leven hospital had a full accident and emergency ( A&E) service until it was closed more than 10 years ago. Now A&E services at the Western Infirmary, Glasgow, have been closed and transferred to the Southern General. This may be sensible for the city of Glasgow but it has left a gaping hole in emergency provision for other areas north of the river Clyde.

On a map it looks simple; take everyone to the Southern General or to Paisley Royal Alexandra Hospital but there is a river between here and there in the huge area comprising Argyll & West Dunbartonshire.

If the wind blows or the interminable road works are in play, the Clyde becomes an almost insurmountable barrier; even the Clyde Tunnel clogs up with the increased traffic.

There is and always was a crying need for full A&E services north of the river. Can you imagine a couple of buses colliding along the banks of Loch Lomond on a stormy day with dozens badly injured and the Erskine Bridge closed?

When the SNP came to power in 2007 one of their first acts was to halt the closure of A&E services in North Lanarkshire. Unfortunately it was already too late for the now disbanded Argyll & Clyde Health Board and Vale of Leven A&E. Argyll health is now administered by a small sub group reporting to Highland health board in Inverness. That group are mandated to buy almost all services from Glasgow & Clyde Health board with the end result that we, in that benighted area, are in the position of being nobody’s real concern and not considered as part of the overall picture.

The provision of health care in the huge area stretching from Clydebank to Oban and beyond now needs to be revisited.

I understand the case has been made but that the infrastructure is not available to site an A&E at the Golden Jubilee Hospital without the enormous cost of building from scratch. This leaves the only sensible option to be the reinstatement of full A&E services in the Vale of Leven.

The medical management teams are against any such move arguing lack of resources and overstretch. Clearly their priorities are within their core areas. They may have a case but until we have a health board that is concerned about the residents of this area as their primary duty, things will only get worse. DS Blackwood, 1 Douglas Drive East, Helensburgh.