Fiona Hyslop Meets with Health Secretary Over Temporary Changes to the Children’s Ward at St John’s Hospital
Fiona Hyslop MSP for Linlithgow Constituency wrote to and has met with the Health Secretary, Nicola Sturgeon to express her concerns on the temporary closure of St. John’s Hospital Children’s Ward and to ask for assurances that this issue will not re-occur in the future.
After meeting with the Health Secretary, other MSPs and local West Lothian Councillors at the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday (July 3rd), Fiona said;
“I made it clear to NHS Lothian that we need to have a long term sustainable commitment to the Children’s Ward at St John’s Hospital – a commitment already confirmed at an earlier meeting in February this year when I raised recruitment issues with them.
“The Health Secretary has made it clear that this disappointing yet unavoidable decision was not an issue about funding but one about the availability of specialist paediatric consultants. The Dean of the Faculty of Medicine has confirmed that trainee doctors will start in August following the withdrawal due to maternity leave and other pressures.
“I know my constituents are deeply concerned, as I am, about the temporary change for July but I also want to put on record my support for paediatric consultants at St. John’s who have been providing additional cover over the last few months until new additional fulltime consultants start in the Autumn and trainee Doctors start in August.”