HEALTH officials have clashed with a politician over their decision on the future of four cottage hospitals in the region.
Dumfries and Galloway Integration Joint Board (IJB) on Tuesday decided the sites in Moffat, Newton Stewart, Kirkcudbright and Thornhill should become community hubs, offering a range of day and outpatient services instead.
But they stressed it is not a closure.
However, South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth insists it is and that they are trying to ‘spin’ the situation.
The joint board members made the decision following a consultation with staff and local people and say they also took into account finance, workforce, sustainability and future need.
Chairman Andy McFarlane said: “A clear outcome has emerged from the meeting which guarantees the future of cottage hospitals in Newton Stewart, Kirkcudbright, Thornhill and Moffat, and which should see them working effectively to serve these communities for many years to come.
“A huge amount of information informed this decision. We feel everything we’ve seen demonstrates that cottage hospitals continue to have a very important role to play in our communities, but this role must evolve to best meet the changing needs of our population.
“These models are achievable and sustainable, and are best placed to meet the needs of these communities.”
He assured the public they “very definitely listened” to their feedback, adding: “We heard people raising calls for a return of in-patient services. But we had to consider whether that’s the right focus, and the right move.
“Our data consistently shows that at any point we actually have more than enough capacity in our hospitals to provide in-patient care for people who have a medical need to be in a hospital
“For those who don’t have a medical requirement to be in hospital, but instead should be being looked after at home or in a homely setting, that’s what we should be aiming to provide.”
That means they will be commissioning beds in local care homes to offer care, including palliative and end-of-life.
Mr McFarlane added: “This benefits them, and it allows these four cottage hospitals to be used as was intended – as a base from which to deliver medical services, staffed by people using their full skills as qualified medical professionals.
“This isn’t an end, but instead a step in a continuing process focused on how we best provide health and social care to our local communities.”
However, Colin Smyth believes the hospitals are effectively being closed and said: “This decision is the closure of the community hospitals and the shameful spin from the partnership that a hub with no beds is a hospital is an insult to the public’s intelligence.
“The public consultation made clear what patients and staff wanted – a return of inpatient services – and that isn’t happening. Members of the IJB have treated the public with contempt by ignoring their own consultation. They have acted appallingly by pitching the concept of community hubs verses inpatient beds, when you could have both.”
Meanwhile, Galloway and West Dumfries MSP Finlay Carson described it as “incredibly disappointing ”.
He said: “Once again the IJB has failed to deliver the ambitions of the public consultation exercise.
“It has failed to listen to the views of the general public in making their decision. Why go to the bother of asking people what they want only to disregard them – just like they did with maternity services in Wigtownshire.”
He believes the public wanted to see a blended service with some beds and added: “The decision should have been to delay the final decision until costing and staffing for the blended option were fully explored.
“Sadly it appears, like the maternity services, we have to accept a second class service when it comes to rural health care provision.”
