A Fife MSP is continuing to campaign for an immediate review of health and social care services in Fife arguing that there is a need to ‘identify the true picture of health needs’ and the ‘level of funding required to meet those needs’.
Alex Rowley reiterated his call following a meeting to discuss his concerns with Cabinet Secretary for Health and Well being Alex Neil. Mr Rowley said; “Whilst Mr Neil listened, was very courteous and stated he did not support a independent review on the grounds that he is well aware of what the problems are, he did not offer any detailed solutions, gave no indication of timescales for addressing the problems and crucially, did not acknowledge the funding problems for both hospital and community care.
“As well as highlighting individual constituents experiences to demonstrate some of the issues I also drew to the attention of the Cabinet Secretary that there is a shortage of up to 100 nurses, that 37.7 consultant posts remain unfilled, that cancellations are becoming more common, there are unacceptably high levels of boarding of patients, staff under massive pressure with record levels of complaints from staff about the lack of staff, bed blocking on the rise and community care creaking at the seams with record levels of people on waiting lists for care packages in the community as the council overspends trying to tackle the bed blocking issues within the hospitals.
“I am sure Mr Neil knows what the problems are but we are not getting the answers or solutions and as we move into winter these problems are likely to get worse. This is why we need an independent review that will set out very clearly what the health needs are, what the priorities are and what additional money will be needed”.
Mr Rowley said he would be joining with colleagues from the Parliament and the Council to launch a petition and campaign calling on the Scottish Government to act now and agree an independent review so we can address the issues and pressures and ensure we have an “NHS that is Fit for Fife”.
