Press Release
16th October 2003
Cynical
Tactics Show Weakness in NHS Centralisation Case, McNeil Tells Minister
NHS Argyll and Clyde’s
announcement that it will move most births to Paisley’s Royal Alexandra
Hospital on 31st October shows that those with a vested interest in
centralisation at Paisley know their case does not stand up to scrutiny, MSP for
Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, has told the Health Minister.
In a letter to Malcolm
Chisholm, Mr McNeil says that, while he appreciates the Board’s decision has
put the Minister in a difficult position, he remains convinced that the only way
to deliver modern, sustainable maternity services in the West of Scotland is
through a wider strategic review – which at the very least includes Glasgow.
“It is regrettable that the
Minister has now been put in this extremely difficult position,” he said
today. “But I have urged him,
despite the immediate, short term pressures at the Rankin, to take the longer,
wider view – including examining the situation in Glasgow – when considering
maternity services in the West of Scotland.”
In his letter to Minister, Mr
McNeil highlights the weaknesses of the centralisation case:
“We now know, for example,
that both Greater Glasgow and Argyll and Clyde have been reviewing maternity
services for a number of years and that these reviews have been carried out in
isolation from each other. This
lack of co-operation has resulted in, I reiterate, two
neighbouring boards undertaking two
reviews and proposing to put two
identical services on two sites which
are side by side. In short, this
logically indefensible method of planning a service such as this will see
consultant-led inpatient services for over 800,000 women and children
centralised in two hospitals – Paisley’s RAH and Glasgow’s Southern
General – which are 7 miles apart.
“With similar isolated
reviews giving rise to equally controversial proposals throughout the country,
it is not surprising that more and more professionals and trade unions are now
questioning the wisdom of planning services without reference to anything beyond
the health board boundary. Many
interested parties to whom I have spoken now share my belief that, if the
long-term future of the NHS is to be secured, it cannot be run on the basis of
reacting to short-term pressures. Key
decisions must be taken on the basis of what is best for the patients and that,
I would submit, requires an element of cross-boundary, strategic planning.”
ENDS
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