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The Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Bruce MPLiberal Democrat MP for Gordon |
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MCINNES & BRUCE: “ASTOUNDING CHEEK” FROM FIRST MINISTER OVER TARVES SURGERY CLOSURE
August 23, 2012 4:28 PM
Local parliamentarians Alison McInnes MSP and Sir Malcolm Bruce MP today stated that First Minister Alex Salmond had "astounding cheek" after he blamed NHS Grampian for the closure of Haddo Medical Group's surgery in Tarves. The surgery is set to close on 7 September.
It was reported this week that Alex Salmond, MSP for Aberdeenshire East, was urging NHS Grampian to review the decision to allow the Tarves GP practice to close and "abandon the current position on closure and start again". An NHS Grampian spokesperson stated that national guidelines had been followed and there was no other decision the board could legally come to.
Alison McInnes MSP, MSP for North East Scotland and Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokeperson, commented: "Over the past three years, the local community have consistently expressed concerns that the opening of a pharmacy in Tarves could have serious implications for the local community.
"When I wrote to the Cabinet Secretary for Health to express these concerns, the Scottish Government responded, stating that "patients should, wherever possible, have access to the full range of pharmaceutical services through a convenient community pharmacy"."
Mrs McInnes explained: "The problem with the existing pharmacy regulations is that they do not properly take into account local circumstances. NHS Grampian appears to have been given little choice by the Scottish Government but to withdraw dispensing services."
"The Scottish Government has failed to recognise the threat that unrestricted pharmacy applications pose to the sustainability of health services provided by dispensing GP practices, particularly in rural areas.
"It is thus astonishing that Mr Salmond has called on NHS Grampian to reverse the decision given that the Scottish Government has effectively sealed the fate of this surgery."
Sir Malcolm Bruce, Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Gordon added: "We have sought to support the practice and the local community throughout the past three years at every stage of this process, from the initial application for a pharmacy to the public meeting to discuss the closure of the Tarves surgery.
"If Mr Salmond had attended the public meeting on Monday, he would have found that there was a great deal of anger amongst the three hundred people who attended at the role that the Scottish Government and the National Appeal Panel has played.
"What has happened here is a very specific, calculated commercial attack on this rural practice. What that demonstrates is that the Scottish Government's regulations are not fit for purpose because they have enabled this to occur."
He added: "For Mr Salmond to ask NHS Grampian to avert the closure, contrary to his government's own regulations, demonstrates astounding cheek."
ENDS