SNP must keep its resolutions

Published on Monday 7 January 2008 09:20

IT IS seven days into 2008 and my New Year's resolutions are hanging by a thread. Back to back episodes of Shameless hit my hopes of reading more books and watching less TV, the salad was ditched in favour of a Chinese takeaway, and my gym bag was dumped, unused, in a corner of the room.

Resolute, I am not. It is fortunate I was not elected to any kind of office on the back of my good intentions. The SNP, however, cannot blame "one too many" if they break any pre-election pledges."

Manifestos are a lot like resolutions – we all know the kind of things that need changing in our lives and confidently promising to do so comes pretty easy at the dawn of a new era.

But unlike my doomed resolutions, any failure of the SNP to live up to its promises will impact on lives up and down the country – millions of lives. One such promise was "a presumption against centralisation of core hospital services to protect local access to healthcare".

The Scottish Government will soon decide whether to centralise the highest levels of brain surgery and cancer treatment for children. Reports are being written up which will spell out the benefits some consultants believe exist in creating one centre of excellence for these services, instead of having them spread between Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.

Putting expertise, skill and research under one roof does offer hope for real improvement in the kinds of operations and treatments that save young lives.

But at what cost? The SNP must not lose sight of what Edinburgh stands to lose if it does centralise these services.

There is a real risk that Glasgow's new 100 million children's hospital would be chosen above Sick Kids in Edinburgh, immediately downgrading a world-renowned institution.

Any centre of excellence would have to be very excellent indeed if it is to outstrip what is on offer at our Sick Kids. We have a top-class facility that means the world to so many patients and their families who have relied on it over the years.

If Sick Kids is downgraded many children with complex conditions will be forced to go elsewhere. This, would force top consultants to question whether Sick Kids is the best place for them, triggering a brain drain from the hospital.

Research, set to be carried out at the 600m biomedical research park at Little France, should fuel pioneering treatment at Sick Kids, but it must be feeding its results into top-quality children's clinics, not some outpost of Glasgow.

And then there are the patients. Whether they voted SNP or not, whether they were old enough to vote at all, they will be waiting on Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon's decision with bated breath.

Over the last few weeks countless Edinburgh families helped by the hospital have come forward explaining why Sick Kids should not be downgraded. They know what it would mean to lose such a great children's hospital – countless journeys to Glasgow or Aberdeen, long periods away from home for children already facing a terrible time, and the difficulty for parents trying to strike a balance with work.

It hasn't mattered if children were at Sick Kids for something other than cancer or brain surgery – as Mike Pringle and Councillor Ewan Aitken's testimonies prove – they know the impact centralisation of those services could have.

If brain surgery or children's cancer is to be removed it will lead to a general downgrading of the hospital.

The reversal of plans to close accident and emergency units at Ayr and Monklands hospitals gives us all hope.

At the time Ms Sturgeon said not enough consideration had been given to the opinions of people who lived close to the two Lanarkshire hospitals. We can only hope she is listening to Edinburgh people now – as well as those from the Lothians, Borders and Fife – who are resoundingly telling her that these services must be kept in Edinburgh.

For the debate is not Edinburgh against Glasgow or Aberdeen, it is Edinburgh's children's services as it is now against what we fear it could be.

If this was Glasgow or Aberdeen we would undoubtedly be arguing as strongly as we are for Edinburgh. Aberdeen has already been campaigning and there is no doubt that Glasgow will fight its corner.

And the fact that three quarters of this country would get so upset about such a move must be enough for the Scottish Government to refuse centralisation.

The Government has stressed it has nothing but patients' interests at heart. It has made no decision yet – reports have been submitted, with more to come.

Consultation is to take place although the Child Brain Injury Trust has said that more consultation with neurosurgery patients and their parents is needed.

The Scottish Government must listen to those opinions and remember the promises they made. They have to realise that all the voices straining to be heard in this debate cannot be wrong. There is no reason Scotland cannot have three centres of excellence and many reasons it cannot afford to have only one.

It is hard enough for people from the Borders to get to Edinburgh in an emergency, let alone to Glasgow, or for that matter from Dumfries to Aberdeen. The last thing we need is to downgrade our best hospitals, the Sick Kids in Edinburgh most definitely included. The people have spoken, it's up to the SNP to listen.