Hansard

I am grateful to Dr Turner for raising this issue in the Parliament. She has made a lot of good points. One advantage that the Parliament has is that the debates that take place at 5 o'clock allow for a degree of input that is not normally possible in our other debates. In this case, a retired general practitioner has been able to speak from her experience, both current and former, of the problems that exist.

It is important for us to consider what the motion asks for. It does not ask for a lot more money to be spent or put up the barriers that usually arise in debates on the health service. To my mind, it is asking for something eminently sensible—namely, that there should be an assessment of available beds in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, especially given the extension of the health board area.

Dr Turner mentioned the position of Glasgow acute services. On a number of occasions the chamber has heard me express serious concerns about the issue, because I fear that the provision that is being advanced as the solution to current problems is not the right way forward. I retain the view that, although the existing configuration does not need to be preserved in aspic, the reduction of acute services to, in effect, two and a bit units is problematic. That is the case especially south of the River Clyde, given the possible difficulties that people face in gaining access to the Southern general hospital at rush hour, with the Clyde tunnel in perennial half-closure, or when there is a football match at Ibrox or Hampden.

There are more and more complaints about delays in admission to wards. Like Dr Turner, I dealt with such a case recently. It involved an elderly lady who was left lying on a trolley at the Western infirmary for an inordinate amount of time because no suitable bed was available, at a time when there was no particular pressure on beds. I wrote to the minister and the hospital authorities on the matter and have received the appropriate apology on behalf of the patient. A review of bed numbers, which would require very little financial input from the Executive, should be considered.

We must also recognise that, from time to time, there will be situations in which the health service and hospitals will not be able to cope. Dr Turner's motion quite rightly mentions the effects of MRSA infections and viruses, which can temporarily close wards, and that is a problem. There could also be major incidents that result in large numbers of casualties, and problems would arise in such circumstances. I am not suggesting for one moment that the health service has got to budget for extreme situations, because I know that that simply could not be done. However, in respect of everyday situations, we must consider bed numbers.

It might be that a review of beds would lead to some adjustment and allow beds to be spread more evenly, so that resources could be allocated in a more logical fashion than appears to be happening in several of our hospitals at the moment—and there might be no additional cost involved. As Dr Turner said, a review of bed numbers could be conducted as a matter of common sense, consistent with the usual reviews that should be done from time to time, but particularly in relation to the extension of the health board area.