Report to the People
22nd August 2005
Children’s Ward U-Turn
Having done battle with them for years
as they’ve tried to fillet our hospital, I thought NHS Argyll and Clyde’s
behaviour couldn’t get any worse.
But they surpassed themselves
when they tried to use the consultation on what will replace the soon-to-be-axed
board as an excuse to force through their half-baked scheme to downgrade the IRH
children’s ward.
Not only did this spark
outrage in our community, their refusal to consult beforehand worried the
Scottish Consumers’ Council and incurred the wrath of likely successor Board,
NHS Greater Glasgow and Health Minister, Andy Kerr.
When I made representations
to the Minister, he nearly hit the roof and wasted no time in forcing the board
to perform a humiliating u-turn - ordering them not to make any decision until
the consultation on the replacement board is over.
I welcome the Minister’s
swift, firm action. But it’s not
only the lack of consultation which made this episode a new low point for this
terminally ill board. The plan
itself was hopeless. From my
discussions with the Royal College of Paediatrics I know that there was no
clinical case for it. Nor was there
a financial need.
It’s
a sad reflection that this standard of conduct is what we’ve come to expect
from NHS Argyll and Clyde. Even
when they know they’re for the chop, they are still determined to pursue their
suicidal centralisation policy. This
smacks of petulance and vindictiveness and the sooner we’re shot of them the
better.
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