NHS consultations 'inadequate'

Plans to close the Queen Mother's Hospital have caused protests

Local NHS boards have been attacked for failing to adequately consult people when they plan changes to services.

The criticism came as Holyrood's public petitions committee heard from opponents to plans to close Glasgow's Queen Mother's Hospital.

MSPs were also told that the proposals were opposed by consultants in maternity units across Scotland.

Committee chair Michael McMahon hit out at NHS Greater Glasgow over its poor public consultation on the issue.

Paediatric surgeons from the Sick Children's Hospital, which shares the Yorkhill site with the threatened maternity hospital, have already warned that losing the Queen Mother's will damage the quality of care provided to mothers and babies requiring surgery in the west of Scotland.

It is quite clear from the fact that we receive so many petitions on so many issues in relation to the NHS that the NHS does not consult well Michael McMahon

Charles McGhee - editor of the Evening Times newspaper, which is campaigning against the closure plans - handed 12 letters of opposition from consultant obstetricians at maternity units from Aberdeen to the Borders to the committee on Wednesday.

NHS Greater Glasgow is proposing the closure as part of a wider shake-up of maternity services in the city.

It came under fire from several MSPs on the committee, which agreed that the controversy raised wider issues nationally.

They agreed to pass on the petition "urgently" to Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm and the health committee.

Mr McMahon expressed no view on the proposal to concentrate the services of Glasgow's existing three maternity units on two sites, but he singled out the Glasgow board for criticism over its consultation.

Safe services

He said: "The health service exists to serve the public and any decision which the health service makes - wherever it is in Scotland - has to have the confidence of the public in its outcomes.

"It is quite clear from the fact that we receive so many petitions on so many issues in relation to the NHS that the NHS does not consult well.

"I have to say - and this may be controversial - it would appear to me that Greater Glasgow Health Board in particular does not consult well.

"Given the strategic nature of Greater Glasgow Health Board to the NHS in Scotland this is something we have to take on."

NHS Greater Glasgow insisted that its pre-consultation and ongoing consultation process - which ends later this month - exceeded current guidelines.

A spokeswoman said: "Our ultimate aim is to provide safe services for mother and babies, and clinical advice to date has pointed towards the Southern General Maternity option."