I have requested a meeting with new Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care, Neil Gray MSP, over the urgent issue of replacement health centres for Lochgelly and Kincardine after reports the Scottish Government has put a hold on all NHS building projects.
I have raised the issue of health centres in Fife on a number of occasions, including holding a public meeting last year on the need for a replacement health centre in Lochgelly which led to the establishment of the Friends of Lochgelly Health Centre campaign group.
If the Scottish Government is serious about NHS Recovery, it cannot simply continue to delay essential building works intended to fix or replace the crumbling infrastructure that our health service relies on.
In an update early last year, NHS Fife described the health centres at Lochgelly and Kincardine as “older facilities which no longer meet the needs of the local populations.”
Commenting, Mr Rowley said:
I was dismayed to read reports this morning that the Scottish Government has put a hold on all NHS building projects and have requested an urgent meeting with the new Health Secretary to discuss the impact this will have on the Lochgelly and Kincardine Health Centre replacement projects.
People in Fife have been waiting too long already for these essential replacements – a replacement health centre in Lochgelly was supposed to be delivered by 2019, and the first announcement of replacement for the health centre in Kincardine was in 2016.
So, I am tired of the SNP using the current financial situation to excuse their total inaction on these issues over the last 17 years.
NHS Fife have made clear that these health centres no longer meet the needs of their local populations so it is simply not an option for the Health Secretary to decide against replacement.
That is why I have requested a meeting to discuss what will be done to provide the access to health services that the people of Fife rightly deserve and demand.
