LISTEN: Campaigners fight closure of maternity unit at Vale
Around 100 people gathered in Dumbarton to vent their concerns about health board plans to shut the birthing unit at the Vale of Leven Hospital
Campaigners fighting the closure of the maternity unit at the Vale of Leven Hospital gathered in Dumbarton last night to voice their concerns.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health board is proposing to axe the service forcing mums-to-be to travel to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley or the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow to have their babies.
Bosses at the health board are being forced to claw back a £69 million overspend and are looking at cutting a number of services.
The Lightburn Hospital, the inpatient ward at Glasgow's Homeopathic Hospital at Gartnavel and some children's wards at Paisley are facing the axe.
27 year old mum-to-be Margaret MacDonald from Balloch doesn't want to travel elsewhere to have her second child.
Local MSP, Labour's Jackie Baillie says mums should have the choice and she fears it could be a slippery slope.
The consultation ends on the 9th of December and the board at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde will meet on the 20th of December. It is expected the Health Secretary Shona Robison will have the final decision.
A statement from the health board says :
Whilst we do face financial challenges as a Board, the proposal is not financially driven, but is based on clinical arguments and any savings would be re-invested in frontline patient services
The Vale of Leven Vision made a commitment to maintain the birthing suite at the Vale’s Community Maternity Unit for a period of three years until 2011 in an attempt to increase the number of births there.
Despite our efforts the births have continued to decline and the low numbers mean there is now a clinical case to transfer the delivery services.
We believe we are running an effective, comprehensive and genuine engagement process, which will enable everyone to express their views and concerns for full consideration before the Board makes a decision.