Ambulance service told to stop taking local children to Paisley A&E

March 1, 2018 – The Scottish Ambulance Service has instructed paramedics to stop taking local children and teenagers under the age of 16 to Accident and Emergency at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.

The change follows SNP Health Secretary Shona Robison’s recent decision to close the children’s ward at the Paisley hospital.

And, with police and council services gradually moving across the Erskine Bridge to Paisley and Greenock, Dumbarton and Lomond MSP Jackie Baillie has expressed fears about future provision of services in this area.

A member of Scottish Ambulance Service staff, who asked to remain anonymous, sent local MSP Baillie a copy of the memo circulated among paramedics.

The whistle-blower passed on a document titled ‘RAH Ward 15 – Children’s Ward Permanent Closure’ states that any patient under the age of 16 who would normally have been taken to the RAH should now be taken to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Glasgow’s south side.

The Paisley children’s ward, which served families in Dumbarton, Vale of Leven and Helensburgh, had been closed at weekends since July 2017, and the SNP Government approved plans last month to make it a permanent closure despite opposition from parents.

MSP Baillie said:  “The ambulance service has wasted no time in implementing the SNP Health Secretary’s decision to close the children’s ward at the RAH.

“An extra ten minutes on the motorway might not sound like much but every second counts in an emergency. The closure of the children’s ward in Paisley will also add to transport difficulties for local people who are visiting family members in hospital.

“Patients in West Dunbartonshire, Helensburgh and Lomond are already sick of travelling across the Erskine Bridge to Paisley, but under the SNP we are seeing more and more centralisation in Glasgow’s south side.”