Briggs hits out at Health Secretary as she refuses to say whether she will reinstate Edinburgh cleft surgery unit if centralisation trial is a failure.
Lothian MSP Miles Briggs is criticising a response he has received from the Health Secretary Shona Robison. In her response, the SNP minister fails to say whether she will reinstate Edinburgh’s cleft lip and palate surgery unit if the transition period of the centralisation of the service in Glasgow is deemed a failure. The Health Secretary says only that she will “consider the appropriate next steps” if she is unsatisfied with the progress that has been made in the 6 month transition period.
Miles wrote to the Health Secretary on behalf of Lothian constituents asking a series of detailed questions following her decision in December to close Edinburgh’s cleft lip and palate surgery unit based at the Sick Kids Hospital and instead to centralise all surgery in Glasgow. Parents and campaigners from across Eastern Scotland have raised numerous concerns about the centralisation proposal as well as expressing worries about the extra travelling pressures this will place on families.
Speaking today Miles, who worked closely with the Lothian constituents and campaigners who opposed the centralisation plans and who held a Member’s Debate in Parliament on the subject last year, said:
“The Cabinet Secretary has simply side stepped a number of the key questions to which parents and campaigners wanted and deserved answers. This is disappointing and frustrating. She should have been able to commit to the logical position that, in the event that the transition period shows centralisation will not work, she will look at reinstating the two site surgery model which works so well across other parts of the UK.
“Edinburgh’s cleft lip and palate surgery unit has a world class reputation with audited outcomes that are among the very best anywhere in the UK. The Edinburgh surgeon’s work is outstanding and she is about to take on a prestigious international role in the world cleft association and secured the International Cleft Congress for Edinburgh in 2021.
“I will continue to question Ministers on this subject on behalf of constituents across Lothian who believe the Scottish Government has got its decision to centralise surgery badly wrong.”
