Stobhill Hospital - an Update February 2008

I write as a retired consultant physician/haematologist from Stobhill Hospital and also as chairman of the Scottish Health Campaigns Network which was formed as an umbrella organisation to coordinate the activities of other threatened hospital services in Scotland. I also represent the Save Stobhill Campaign on the Acute Services Monitoring Group set up by the then Health Minister, Malcolm Chisholm, to monitor that certain named services (general medicine, coronary care, general surgery, high dependency, medicine for the elderly and diagnostic support services) would be sustained at Stobhill until the Acute Services Strategy Review of Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board was fully implemented.

The new building currently under construction on the Stobhill campus

is an ambulatory care and diagnostic centre (ACAD) - effectively a much upgraded and welcome outpatient and day surgery facility, but it is NOT a hospital as most people recognise one. It will have NO acute medical or surgical beds.

Initially it was planned to have no beds whatsoever but some 12 overnight beds to support the day surgery unit have been conceded as a result of much campaigning. The only new service that the ACAD will provide which is not currently available on the Stobhill site, is Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) - a form of scanning.

It is still the intention of the Health Board to transfer acute medical and surgical patients to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary site, but the timescale of this is uncertain and overall there is very considerable slippage in the implementation of the Acute Services Strategy Review.

Currently most medical specialties and general surgery continue to be supplied on site as does the unique coronary care unit which was recently shown to have the highest one month's survival rate in Scotland following a heart attack.

The present Casualty Unit which was scheduled for premature closure was also saved by vigorous campaigning and the establishment of a rotation of accident and emergency consultants from the Western Infirmary and the Royal Infirmary.

It is planned that if acute medicine and surgery are withdrawn from the Stobhill site, the Casualty Unit will be replaced by a minor injuries unit (MIU) which will close at 9-10 p.m.

If Stobhill is to lose its acute medical and surgical services and is eventually closed for these admissions, it is of vital importance that the replacement provided is at least as good if not better than the current facilities.(This should include adequate public transport and parking).

The present planning activities do not give confidence that this is achievable in the immediate future, and until then the retention of such facilities at Stobhill must be retained by continuing the Campaign.

Dr Robert L. C. Cumming