St John's 'too busy' to be under threat

Published on Tuesday 29 September 2009 10:23

A SCRAPPED proposal to send thousands of Edinburgh patients to West Lothian for consultations need never have been floated, latest figures have shown.

Last year NHS Lothian unveiled plans to boost attendance at St John's Hospital in Livingston by 1,000 a year by "rezoning" people in the west of the city.

But the health board's medical director, Charles Swainson, said a natural increase in people going through the doors at St John's meant there was no need for the plan to go forward.

He told fellow board members last week that elective surgeries, emergency admissions and day patients were all up significantly, surpassing the forecasted rise rezoning would have brought.

He said: "The increase in activity overall exceeds that by a very considerable margin compared to what we would have got from rezoning.

"Medical staff are fully satisfied that the hospital is busy and plays a big part in NHS Lothian and there is no threat to it."

The future of St John's has been subject to some debate over the years, with councillors in West Lothian winning seats purely on the basis of fighting for its future. But a population increase, ageing demographic and the creation of new services there has increased its turnover.