Leader posted missing at meetings
West Dunbartonshire Council’s leader, SNP Councillor Jonathan McColl, pictured, has been posted missing after he attended just 36% of meetings of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board and its’ sub-committees.
The papers for meetings from June 2017 to yesterday show that Councillor McColl has attended just 7 out of a possible 19 meetings since the SNP took over the administration at the council last year. His lack of attendance at meetings comes during one of the most significant periods of service change that might have a profound and lasting impact on the Vale of Leven hospital. He even failed to attend the most recent meeting of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board on 26 June at which they approved their ‘Moving Forward Together’ programme which will change how services are delivered for local people at the Vale of Leven hospital. The Health Board has still not given the community information about what could be left at the hospital; would be delivered in the community, or accessed from a specialist centre.
The MSP said: “The health board’s Moving Forward Together programme report which was approved at yesterday’s meeting provides no clear indication of what will be left at the Vale of Leven hospital after they make their changes. It is indefensible that our council leader, Jonathan McColl, has attended about a third of the meetings of the health board and its’ sub committees since he was elected as leader last year. Our community deserves to be represented when these critical decisions are being made about the future of our local services. It is time that Councillor McColl took his role more seriously. If he can’t be bothered to turn up to these meetings, he should step aside.”