Born in 1946 and brought up in Cupar, Fife, I was educated at the local school - 
Local SNP MSP Stewart Stevenson has challenged the Deputy Health Minister on local delivery of services during a debate in the Scottish Parliament.
Mr Stevenson, who has been campaigning to retain maternity services in Fraserburgh and Banff, was speaking during an SNP-initiated debate on the health service in the Scottish Parliament.
Commenting, Mr Stevenson said:
“The policy of the Scottish Government is for local delivery of health services. The Deputy Health Minister has once again confirmed this on the Parliamentary Record and stated that we need to rely less on acute hospitals and provide more local services.
“I couldn’t agree with him more and so, he will find, does the population of Fraserburgh, Banff and surrounding areas.
“Yet the policy of NHS Grampian is entirely at odds with stated Government policy. This is all the more bizarre when one considers that Fraserburgh is the only town in Scotland with a population of over 10,000 which is more than one hour away from an acute services hospital.
“Ministers will have the final say on NHS Grampian’s proposals for maternity services and it is incumbent upon them to support local delivery of maternity services and back their own policy.”
Note: Speaking on the record in Parliament, the Deputy Health Minister said: “When we debated "Delivering for Health" there was widespread understanding of and agreement on the key principles on which we needed to base future services. Those include the need to shift the balance of care, so that we rely less on acute hospitals and provide more local services . . .” Lewis Macdonald MSP, Deputy Minister for Health & Community Care, Official Record, 14 September 2006
Categories [Health and Community Care]
Karen Adam is now the MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast
