HEALTH Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has come under fire over her decision to close a mental health unit.

Ms Sturgeon announced yesterday that the Christie Ward in the Vale of Leven Hospital in Dunbartonshire is to be permanently closed and inpatient services transferred to Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow.

However, opponents have warned that the move, which leaves the Helensburgh and Dumbarton areas without a specialist mental health ward, is a "dark day" which will jeopardise patient care.

Helensburgh MSP Jackie Baille, who has campaigned to keep the unit open, said: "Recently we witnessed patients from the local area being treated as far away as Livingston and Ayr because there were no beds available at Gartnavel. This clearly demonstrates that there is insufficient capacity at Gartnavel.

"The SNP keep saying they support local health services, but removing the Christie Ward is the exact opposite of their promise. This decision is just yet another example of how the SNP mantra of retaining services local services is a fallacy."

Lay members of the Vale of Leven Hospital Monitoring Group, set up to advise a health board on changes to vital services, quit their posts in September in protest at the health board's moves to close the Christie ward.

However, the Health Secretary said yesterday that moving mental health patients to Glasgow was a better option in the long term, as keeping the Vale of Leven unit open would "not be clinically sustainable".

She added: "I am of the view that there are compelling arguments that the repatriation of this service is not in patients or local people's interests."