GILRUTH REJECTS PLANS FOR FURTHER CLOSURES TO FIFE’S GP OUT OF HOURS

Published date : 27 Apr 2018

Jenny Gilruth MSP today demanded answers following the emergency closure of Glenrothes Hospital’s Out of Hours service at a joint meeting with Fife Politicians, NHS Fife and the Health & Social Care Partnership. The quarterly meeting of NHS Fife’s Chief Executive, Paul Hawkins and the Chair of NHS Fife, Tricia Marwick, was joined by Michael Kellet, the Director of Fife’s Health and Social Care Partnership and Dr. Seonaid McCallum, Associate Medical Director.

Commenting after the meeting, Glenrothes MSP Jenny Gilruth said:

‘We now have clarity that the decision to close Glenrothes Hospital’s out of hours was taken by the Director of the Partnership with his senior leadership team. I asked, specifically, if the Partnership has conducted a health inequalities impact assessment. This was a key recommendation from the Scottish Government’s recent review of Out of Hours across the country. That assessment has not happened. I have written to Healthcare Improvement Scotland to request this now happens as a matter of urgency as I have serious concerns about patient safety being compromised.

The MSP further highlighted the Government’s own statistics for this year, which show that people are much more likely to use out of hours of they’re over 75 – or under 5. (See link below)

Jenny Gilruth also questioned the process the Partnership used, stating:

‘Fife’s Health and Social Care Partnership need to come clean. This temporary closure is meant to end in July. We are now being told of a public consultation which is to begin in June. If that public consultation goes ahead – retrospectively – it will mean a potential further closure until September. Any public consultation which happens now will be compromised.

I will be writing to all members of the Integrated Joint Board to call on them to vote against these proposals on May the 22nd. The people of Fife deserve an honest opportunity to feed in to a consultation – that is not being given. We are told this closure needed to happen due to staff shortages. It is now for the Health and Social Care Partnership to show Fife politicians exactly what they’ve been doing to recruit for these vacancies’.

The MSP raised the issue directly with the First Minister in Holyrood last week and with the Health Secretary on Thursday. The Glenrothes MSP has further secured a parliamentary members’ debate, in her name, in opposition to the Out of Hours closure, which will take place in the Scottish Parliament.

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Emergency-Care/Publications/2018-02-27/2018-02-27-OOHPrimaryCareServicesinScotland-Summary.pdf

Ends.

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