Health Board fails to prioritise appointments for patients at the Vale
Jackie Baillie and the hospitals covering this health board area.
By Lizzie Healey
Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton and Lomond constituency, has called on NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to ensure that patients from Dumbarton, the Vale of Leven and Helensburgh are given the option of attending the Vale of Leven Hospital for treatment.
The MSP has had complaints from a number of constituents who have been forced to travel across Greater Glasgow and Clyde for medical treatment that could have been carried out at the Vale of Leven Hospital.
Patients in the area have been forced to travel to the Royal Alexandra hospital, Stobhill hospital and even the new Queen Elizabeth University Hospital on the south-side of Glasgow for routine treatments which the Vale of Leven Hospital has the capacity to carry out.
Jackie said: “I have written to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde time and time again to highlight that patients from this area would prefer to receive treatment at the Vale of Leven Hospital where possible.
“Asking patients to travel to the other end of Glasgow for treatments available at the Vale is ludicrous and puts added pressure on patients who are already suffering.
“The health board tell me that if patients tell them their preference then it will be accommodated where possible, but it shouldn’t be up to the patients to tell the health board which hospital is most convenient.
The health board, where the chief executive is Jane Grant and the chairperson John Brown, should be ensuring that full use is being made of the Vale of Leven Hospital and this starts with sending patients from this area to the Vale.
“In the meantime, I would encourage patients from Dumbarton, the Vale of Leven and Helensburgh to ask if their treatment can be carried out at the Vale of Leven hospital when they are referred to ensure that the health board takes their preference into account when allocating appointments.”