Decision to close end of life care unit at Fife hospital branded a ‘disgrace’

Fife Health and Social Care Partnership claimed just a few weeks ago that it would take no decision on the future of the unit until staff, patients and their families had been consulted. However, last week, its Integrated Joint Board (IJB) voted to axe the unit.

The partnership argued it had been unable to recruit a doctor to provide medical cover after a local GP practice announced it was no longer able to do so.

Councillor David Graham put forward a motion calling for the unit to be temporarily closed, giving them time to find an alternative solution, but other members voted in favour of closure.

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Graham said: “I accept that the ward cannot be run safely without responsible medical cover, but it has been in this position before and the service has managed to secure medical cover. Therefore, I moved a motion at the meeting appealing for a temporary closure to allow time to be given for further investigation to try and sustain the ward by securing alternative medical cover.

“The reason the service is in the position of having to close the ward is due to a lack of doctors. We are seeing time and time again services are being slashed because of workforce planning issues, where the government is not training enough doctors to sustain services. We cannot carry on shutting services because of a lack of planning from the Scottish Government.

“I raised that very little to no consultation had been completed with the community before the meeting and I was told that the consultation would be done afterwards which I argued was pointless as the decision had already been taken.

“This is absolutely devastating for our community as the ward has served it so well over the decades, and most of the staff are local residents who have a huge vested interest in the community where they work.”

A peaceful protest was held outside the hospital yesterday.