Stuart McMillan MSP met with the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care on 14 August 2024 after writing to him about the changes that were made to GP Out of Hours (GPOOH) service provision within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
The local SNP MSP also raised the need for investment into Inverclyde Royal Hospital (IRH) building and highlighted the lack of communication more generally from the health board to the wider public about services.
Commenting after the meeting, Stuart said:
“I’m grateful to the Health Secretary for meeting with me to discuss the changes to the GPOOH service in Inverclyde. It was also an opportunity to highlight other topical health issues, including the need for investment into the fabric of the IRH building.
“The expansion of the GPOOH service to include in-person appointments at the IRH on a Sunday is welcome, and my FOI requests show this is supporting more people from Inverclyde to access in-person appointments within their local area.
“This is a welcome improvement to the service, but I’m still frustrated that the health board do not appear to be actively getting this message out to my constituents; too often, I hear people say ‘we don’t have this service locally’. That’s not true, and I continue to worry this confusion could mean people aren’t accessing the service and are leaving symptoms untreated until they worsen.
“The Health Secretary heard my concerns and committed to raising these with the health board. He also reiterated that capital spending for new health projects is currently paused due to the financial challenge facing the Scottish Government, which is a direct result of the reckless economic mismanagement by former Tory UK Governments in recent years.
“Improvement works therefore must continue to take place at the IRH, and I regularly make this point to the health board.
“I will continue to monitor access to the GPOOH service by submitting regular FOI requests and am awaiting details from the Cabinet Secretary about some of the concerns I had around the delays to the Orthopaedic Centre for Excellence being fully operational at the IRH.
“As I have always done, I will continue to raise health concerns with both the health board and Scottish Government.”
