SCOTLAND’s biggest health board has been accused of “insanity”after it agreed to a fresh consultation on controversial hospital closure plans that have previously been rejected by the Scottish Government.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is to press ahead with further scrutiny of proposals that include shutting Lightburn Hospital in Carntyne, Glasgow, and a children’s ward at the Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) in Paisley.
The cuts also include the closure of seven inpatient beds at the Centre for Integrative Care (CIC) and community maternity units at Inverclyde Royal, Greenock, and the Vale of Leven in Alexandria.
The final decision on each of the plans, which will contribute to a multi-million pound savings target, could rest with the Health Secretary Shona Robison if they are deemed a “major” service change by the Government.
Plans to shut ward 15 of the RAH were previously deemed a major change by the board and it has said the plans for Lightburn also meet the criteria. However, the board does not believe the changes proposed for the CIC, which is Scotland’s only homeopathic hospital, and the community maternity units meet the criteria.
Earlier plans to shut Lightburn were overturned by the then Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon in 2011 and her successor, Ms Robison, has since voiced her opposition.
She has also previously pledged her support for keeping ward 15 of the RAH open.
Mark Macmillan, leader of Renfrewshire Council, said: “I’m all in favour of consultation, but to consult again when we know what the answers will be, it could be described as the definition of insanity.”
The health board’s director of planning Catriona Renfrew argues that the proposals now on the table are different to those that were consulted on previously and rejected by the Scottish Government and that current health strategy, particularly on elderly care, has“changed significantly.”
She says there is now greater clinical support for the plans, in particular for Lightburn Hospital, and insists they are not cost-driven.
She said: “It’s a different consultation.”
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