Fife GP walk-in clinic: concerns over how £3m centre will be evaluated

Dr Chris McKenna, NHS Fife Medical director, provided assurances to the Fife Health and Social Care Integrated Joint Board (IJB) on Wednesday.

Councillor Eugene Clark had expressed his fears that no way of monitoring if the pilot project was working were in place yet.

“Any speculation about how successful these are at his stage is utter nonsense. They are pilots. I cannot find anywhere how is this going to be evaluated. Who is going to be evaluating it?” he said.

“£3m is a lot to spend without having a clear idea and if we cannot see how it is going. What does success look like? If we don’t have the evaluation ready, how can we make that evaluation?”

Councillor Dave Dempsey, leader of the Tory Group at Fife House, also expressed concerns.

“The evaluation is simply it is a government flagship project therefore it will be a success. I am not assured by this,” he said.

“There are a number of ifs and buts and maybes and potential for it to go skewwhiff.”

Dr McKenna confirmed that assessments would be carried out by Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS).

“The amount of work that has gone in at this point has been really something else, and people are really committed to this,” he said. “It is a major government priority, hence it is a major priority for us too but we are not in the business of doing things that are not going to be good enough.

“I would like to give assurances that this will be successful. We will put all efforts to make sure we do this successfully. We want to make this a success and although we didn’t come up with the idea in the first place, we still want to make a success of it.”

Cllr Rosemary Liewald (Lochgelly, Cardenden and Benarty , SNP) gave her support to the project.

“I admit to being slightly jealous of this going ahead in Levenmouth and not where I am,” she said. “We need this. We recognise that the Scottish Government have taken the steps to implement it and I am assured from the effort and hard work and dedication that this will be a success and let’s hope we can expand it.”

Cllr David Alexander (Leven, Kennoway and Largo , SNP) added: “There is no way people around this table are going to waste £3m. This will make a big difference.

“People know where it is and are going to go there. 500 people a week, 2,000 a month, maybe 25,000 a year. To me, that is worth the attempt. I have no doubt this will be more than a success.”

The walk-in facility will open in Buckhaven’s Randolph Wemyss Memorial Hospital as part of the Scottish Government’s national GP Walk-In pilot project.

It is set to open by the end of August and will initially be available to patients registered with a GP in Leven, Methil, Buckhaven and Kennoway.

From September/October, it is hoped the service will then be expanded to all Fife residents who are registered with a GP.