Moray MP Douglas Ross says it is “absolutely astonishing” that NHS Grampian claim to have made a major error when sending him correspondence in relation to the closure of GP surgeries in Burghead and Hopeman.
Douglas – who has stood alongside Save our Surgeries campaigners fighting to re-open the practices – from the start has slammed the health board for now saying they missed out a key word in a recent response sent to him.
He had received a reply from NHS Grampian Chief Executive Caroline Hiscox which stated the consultation on the future of the surgeries was not to ask people to vote on whether the surgeries should remain open, but whether or not mitigation measures had sufficiently addressed concerns.
That had prompted a furious response from Save our Surgeries campaigners who wondered if NHS Grampian had not been telling them the truth all along about the consultation.
However, in a “remarkable” error, Douglas has now received a further update from Simon Bokor-Ingram, the Chief Officer of Moray’s Health and Social Care Partnership.
Mr Bokor-Ingram has revealed that the word “only” was missing from the initial response sent to Douglas, meaning that the text should have read ‘The aim of the consultation was not only to ask people to vote on whether they thought the Hopeman and Burghead branch surgeries should remain open, but to determine whether the mitigations in place were sufficient to address concerns raised.’
Douglas says NHS Grampian bosses owe local residents in Burghead and Hopeman an “urgent apology” for this and says many local people will think the change in the wording is because the health board have been caught out.
He has also challenged SNP health secretary Michael Matheson to re-think his refusal to come and meet with campaigners in his constituency.
Moray MP Douglas Ross said: “While NHS Grampian claim they missed out a word in their letter to me, many local residents believe they are covering up for making their true position known in a public document.
“The community voted overwhelmingly to support the retention of these two practices but from their initial response to me the Chief Executive of NHS Grampian suggested it was never the intention to gauge the support of keeping these surgeries open.
“Emotions are already running high as local campaigners continue to fight tirelessly for these GP surgeries to remain open and the letter, I received from NHS Grampian was understandably met with huge anger among these communities.
“It looked as though NHS Grampian had failed to be upfront all along about their consultation.
"Now the health board have only created unnecessary confusion, by embarrassingly claiming that they missed out a key detail in the first place.
“Questions will continue to be asked over why the letter was signed off with this wording, and if it did in fact reflect the views of NHS Grampian or any senior managers within the Health Board.
“That is no way to handle a situation when frontline services are on the line and so many patients are going to be affected.
“They owe the communities of Burghead and Hopeman an urgent apology for this and a full and frank explanation.
“I would also urge SNP health secretary Michael Matheson to re-think his refusal to come and meet with local campaigners in light of this shambolic sequence of events by NHS Grampian and listen to people’s concerns face-to-face.”