SNP giving up on NHS Tayside, says Councillor

Dundee Liberal Democrat Group Leader Councillor Fraser Macpherson has accused the SNP administration of “giving up on NHS Tayside before the fight has even started” after Council Leader Mark Flynn called for Dundee to become the headquarters of a new huge super-regional health board.

The Scottish Government has proposed a radical restructuring which could see Scotland’s 14 territorial NHS boards replaced by just two bodies covering the east and west of the country.

Councillor Macpherson said :

“Of course I want to see more high-quality public sector jobs coming to Dundee, and if the Scottish Government presses ahead with this huge centralisation then Dundee has a very strong case for jobs and investment. But Councillor Flynn appears to have skipped over the rather more fundamental question – why is he not fighting to save NHS Tayside in the first place?" 

“NHS Tayside is our local health board. It serves Dundee, Angus and Perth and Kinross and has generations of knowledge and experience of the health needs of our communities. Rather than apparently accepting its abolition as inevitable and asking where the headquarters of its enormous replacement should go, Dundee’s Council Leader should be standing up for local NHS decision-making and demanding that the Scottish Government thinks again".

“Replacing 14 territorial boards with just two represents centralisation on a massive scale. A single board potentially stretching from the Borders right through to Aberdeenshire is hardly my idea of local accountability."

“There is also a real danger that decisions affecting patients and services in Dundee and Tayside become increasingly remote from the communities they serve."

“The SNP Council Leader seems to have moved remarkably quickly from defending Dundee and Tayside’s interests to working out what we might get after NHS Tayside disappears. I want more jobs for Dundee too – but we should not have to accept the abolition of our local NHS board to get them."

“The first priority should surely be to fight for NHS Tayside, for local accountability and for decisions about our health services to continue to be made as close as possible to the people who depend upon them."

“Dundee deserves a leader who will oppose these SNP proposals, rather than simply accepting yet another round of centralisation.”