NHS consults patients and staff on treatment plan for hospital

Published on Wednesday 4 February 2009 08:48

NEARLY 1000 people have been consulted in the bid to build a vision for a key Lothians hospital.

NHS Lothian is carrying out work to see what patients and staff think St John's Hospital in Livingston will be like in 2020.

It wants to bring the local community on board and help develop strategies to deal with challenges the next 12 years will bring.

Issues such as a growing population in West Lothian – and the Lothians as a whole – and an increasingly elderly community, along with expected baby booms, will all be addressed as part of the Towards 2020 scheme.

Local people and West Lothian Council have questioned health chiefs' commitment to the hospital in recent years, and they are hopeful the move will reassure local politicians and activists.

Allister Short, the health board's strategic programme manager, said: "We set up our consultation by asking people to look into the past – and into the future."

Agencies such as the police, the fire service, other rescue services and local voluntary organisations will also be consulted.