Row as NHS bosses vote to close overnight unit

PATIENTS have vowed to raise funds to take over an NHS-run hospital which has lost its overnight unit.

Campaigners lost their fight to save the overnight ward at Glasgow’s Centre for Integrative Care (CIC) which treats patients with long-term, chronic conditions with a range of complementary therapies.

Health board members voted yesterday to close the seven-bed unit at the former Homeopathic Hospital, by 21 votes to nine.

While there was widespread support for care provided at the centre, which is based at the city’s Gartnavel Hospital and takes referrals from all over Scotland, some board members were not convinced about the need for overnight capacity.

Non-executive board member Simon Carr did not believe it was the responsibility of the NHS to provide an inpatient service for complementary therapies and Dr Jennifer Armstrong, head of acute services, said clinicians backed the change. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is expected to save around £400,000 a year with the move.

Chairman John Brown said he did not support the plan and was backed by new board member Jeanette Donnelly, who put forward an impassioned argument for the service.

She said: “There’s certainly not a lack of need for the in-patient service.

“Is the centre valued as much as it should be? I don’t think so. I am not convinced by the financial argument.”

Dr Robin Reid said the inpatient service cost per patient per year was £1,500. As the Glasgow meeting began, campaigners were heard chanting: “No more cuts.”

Dozens of people, including Dumbarton Labour MSP Jackie Baillie, protested against the CIC plan and cuts to the Lightburn Hospital in Glasgow, the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley and community maternity units.