Anger as health board closes intensive care unit at height of pandemic and sends patients 25 miles for treatment
SCOTLAND’S largest health board has been accused of
“grossly irresponsible” management after it closed the only intensive care unit in the area dubbed “Scotland’s Covid capital”.
Inverclyde SNP councillor Chris
Mceleny has called for First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to intervene to protect the facility at Inverclyde Royal Hospital, Greenock, which was unexpectedly shut last weekend by Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board
– as cases of the virus continued to surge nationwide.
Staff at the unit turned up for shifts only to be told it was being unexpectedly closed.
Now seriously ill patients normally treated at the hospital will instead be sent 25 miles to Glasgow.
Mr Mceleney has written to Ms Sturgeon urging her to intervene.
He said: “To make this decision now is grossly irresponsible.
“Right in the middle of this collective national anxiety, do you really make things even worse for a community that has suffered so much from coronavirus by taking away such an important service such as intensive care?
“What rational person
would think it would be a good idea to close an ICU in an area with these statistics?
“I don’t accept that the most deprived area in Scotland doesn’t need an ICU. Covid is going to be important for some time to come, but even in a world that doesn’t have Covid, this doesn’t make any sense.”
Ms Sturgeon pledged in 2015 that the hospital’s ICU was safe, saying there were “no plans to centralise services out of Inverclyde. If there were to be ... there would be a full process of public consultation.”
A petition calling for the Scottish Government to intervene and reverse the decision has already been signed by 10,000 people in just four days.
Emma Carneys, 36, from Greenock, owes her life to the Inverclyde ICU. She has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and is waiting to undergo a heart transplant.
In late December she was admitted to the hospital with a severe chest infection and appendicitis. She developed an infection after an operation and was moved to intensive care in January. Her family were told to prepare for the worse.
Ms Carneys said: “It would have been a different outcome for me. I wouldn’t have been able to be moved in an ambulance from where I was and then be ventilated.
“And if I did happen to survive that journey, I would be a very different person from what I am now.”
A spokesman for Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board confirmed patients needing intensive care will be “stabilised locally” before being transferred to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Govan, Glasgow.
He added: “The critical care team at Inverclyde Royal Hospital is unchanged and they will continue to assess patients in Inverclyde who require critical care services.
“Many of our patients will continue to receive critical care services at IRH in the High Dependency and Coronary Care Units. This may include support for breathing problems and circulation support.”