PRESS RELEASE

July 6th, 2010

MSP fights health cuts

Greenock and Inverclyde MSP Duncan McNeil has called on the health board to get its priorities right after more cuts were threatened at the Inverclyde Royal.

The MSP has written to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde seeking assurances that patient welfare won’t suffer as a result of the decision to close a surgical ward.

This comes just weeks after it was announced 1,200 jobs could go at> the health board, including hundreds of nurses and midwives, while hundreds of newly-qualified nurses are frozen out of a career in the NHS.

At the same time, it was revealed that the health board is spending nearly £300,000 a year on press officers.

He said: “The public want spending on real doctors, not spin doctors.

“This latest decision to close the surgical ward will be of real concern to people already worried about the cuts the Scottish Government in Edinburgh is overseeing.

“I have asked for assurances that this will not lead to more patients being transported by taxi to other hospitals late at night, as has been reported to me by staff there.

“Yet it would seem the priority is ensuring we have plenty of people in post to manage the endless drip of bad news.”

ENDS