Report to the People
4th August 2003
The
Fight Goes On
Last
week’s short-sighted decision on the Rankin Maternity Unit was, to be blunt
about it, a right kick in the teeth. As
illogical as it was infuriating, this plan, if ever put into practice, will have
grave consequences. It signals, as
I have said before, the start of the wholesale centralisation of our NHS.
But
this is not yet the end of the line. The
Board’s proposals still have to be formally ratified by the Health Minister
and I for one will be doing everything in my power to convince him, not only to
reject this scheme, but also to institute a full West of Scotland wide review of
hospital provision – the only way to avoid the sort of ludicrous anomalies to
which decisions like this will lead.
I’m
not, though, going to patronise you by pretending this will be easy.
I have been unable to find a single example of any Health Minister
overturning a decision of this nature and I know that powerful vested interests
in the NHS will be putting him under immense pressure.
But
we do have a strong case, built not on emotion, but on a solid foundation of
hard evidence. I have therefore
already made initial representations to the Minister, spelling out both the hard
facts and the serious consequences of implementing this plan.
It’s
clear, though, that this whole debate has exposed some of the serious underlying
issues which are facing today’s NHS. The
impact of the agreement on junior doctors’ hours, which only had the status of
guidance until it became legally binding on Friday, for example, has been a key
factor in the whole maternity review. The
difficulty in recruiting junior doctors continues to threaten to collapse the
service. Indeed, with the even
stricter European Working Time Directive set to be introduced next year, the
effects on an ill-prepared NHS are going to be severe.
Sadly,
however, the consultation on the maternity review did not have proper regard to
this. That is why I have written to my colleagues on the Health
Committee arguing that, as this is an issue which
affects every constituency in Scotland, we conduct a full inquiry of our own.
So
the fight goes on, not just here but throughout Scotland, to keep the ideal of a
community based, accessible NHS alive. It’s
not going to be easy, but we do have one big weapon – the fact that we’re
right.
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