Meeting of the Parliament 28 September 2016
I am sorry; I did not see him. I reach out to Ivan McKee, who has made commitments to fight to save Lightburn hospital. If he is sincere in that commitment, I hope that he votes with us today.
I hold out the hand of friendship to Stuart McMillan and ask him to work with us to protect maternity services at Inverclyde Royal hospital. I say to George Adam and Tom Arthur: do not vote for an amendment that takes out all mention of the RAH. Instead, join with us today to save RAH paediatric services.
I appeal to Bill Kidd. I know that he is a whip—the chief whip, no less—but his first responsibility is surely to his constituents, so I urge him to support his constituents by supporting our motion to save the CIC in-patient services in his constituency.
I know that in Alex Neil’s heart, he would like to support the motion. He is a rebel at heart, and I ask him to let that inner rebel come out today and work with us to save orthopaedic services at Monklands hospital.
Our motion is clear; Labour is clear: we want the services to be designated as major service changes, called in by the cabinet secretary and rejected. Many MSPs in this chamber stood on the banner “Standing up for Scotland”. Today they have an opportunity. Will they stand up for their communities and for our NHS?
I move,
That the Parliament notes the widespread public concern over proposals to downgrade valued local services, including maternity services at the Vale of Leven Hospital, paediatric services at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, maternity services at Inverclyde Hospital, trauma orthopaedics at Monklands Hospital, inpatient services at the Centre for Integrative Care, cleft palate services at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children and the closure of the Lightburn Hospital; believes that all these proposals constitute major changes in service provision, and therefore calls on the Scottish Government to call in these proposals, as set out by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Lanarkshire and NHS Lothian, for ministerial decision.
14:56