Report to the People
23rd May 2005
Bold Move the Way Forward
I doubt that the Health Minister's
announcement that NHS Argyll and Clyde is for the chop was the most surprising
news you heard last week. Given the
board's performance over the years, the Minister was left with no choice but to
put it out of its misery.
What
was a genuine surprise (and a nice one at that) was that Argyll and Clyde's £80
million debt will also be scrapped.
The
usual suspects and the vested interests are, of course, desperately looking for
an excuse to complain about this. But
they'll have a job. By having the
courage to take this bold move, the Minister is tackling head-on the two issues
which are causing the most difficulty for health services in the area -
geography and debt.
Geographically,
if it ever made sense to have one board trying to balance the interests of
remote and urban communities, it certainly doesn't now.
Teaming up with Glasgow to form a new board will put the focus squarely
where it should have been all along - on tackling the persistent public health
problems in urban areas.
Writing
off the debt means the new board can start planning future services with a clean
slate and with nothing other than the quality of patient care to consider.
This
shake-up is about much more than changing the sign outside the health centre or
repainting a few vans. It's about
putting our health services on the road to quality and security.
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