Report to the People
19th June 2006
Don’t
Repeat Mistakes
We understandably expect and
demand that new health board, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, moves away from the
old Argyll and Clyde strategy of improving our health services by effectively
shutting our hospital down.
But, the fact that Greater
Glasgow is talking about moving the acute assessment paediatric service from the
IRH to the children’s centre at the RAH, although only about two children a
day use it, shows they are in danger of making the same mistakes as their
predecessors.
Financial and clinical
stability are essential to the IRH if it wants to recruit and retain more staff.
But if we are serious about stabilising services and putting an end to
the annual round of reorganisation plans, we need to ask bigger questions than
where a few doctors and nurses work.
We need to ask how A&E
can be maintained and improved. Everyone,
including children, should be able to get emergency treatment around the clock
at the IRH. We need to ask why
children with chronic conditions, such as asthma, have to attend hospital at
all. Why can’t the services come
to them in their home, as they do in other parts of the UK?
And, if a child needs world-class care for a life-threatening illness, we
need to ask how we ensure they get to Yorkhill or the Southern General.
The bold abolition of Argyll
and Clyde and the writing off of its debt should help us learn from the mistakes
of the past, not repeat them.
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