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Lomond Country
Baillie hits out as axe falls on hospital bus service
MSP Jackie Baillie has hit out at NHS bosses, after it emerged that a bus service linking the Vale of Leven Hospital with the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, will be axed.
The service 340, which links communities north of the River Clyde with the Royal Alexandra Hospital, was laid on after NHS chiefs downgraded the Vale of Leven Hospital and transferred services to the Paisley site.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde bosses pledged the bus service would be created after facing stiff opposition from communities served by the Vale Hospital to the transfer of services in 2008/09.
But now NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has pulled funding for the service, instead pledging to run its own transport, for staff and patients with appointments only.
It will leave those hoping to visit patients sent to the RAH without transport.
Dumbarton MSP Jackie wrote to health board chiefs last June, after it emerged that health chiefs were questioning the cost of provision.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde covered up to 90 per cent of service costs, while transport body SPT funded the remaining 10 per cent.
But a Freedom of Information request was submitted by the politician last year, after NHS bosses dragged their heels over granting fresh backing for the shuttle, which uncovered details of service funding.
It emerged that the board had made applications to their own Greater Glasgow and Clyde Healthcare Charity to secure endowment funds – from donated cash – to fund the service since 2014.
The contract was due for renewal last July, taking it to July 2027, but NHS bosses were slow to sign up.
They also asked SPT to provide more financial support for the service promised to the community by the health board, the papers released under FOI reveal.
As late as May last year, the board were considering the cost of providing the service, with documents revealing that consideration was given to asking SPT if the deadline could be extended for three months.
In February 2023 documentation, the board questioned how many passengers board and alight the service at both the Vale of Leven and Royal Alexandra hospitals.
Similar data was requested again in September 2023, “in advance of a decision on the tender”.
The service has been running since 2009.
Dumbarton MSP Jackie, said: “NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde gave a commitment when acute services were transferred from the Vale of Leven Hospital to the RAH in Paisley that they would provide a transport link.
“Communities in Helensburgh, the Vale of Leven and Dumbarton have no natural transport links to Paisley and journeys are long, expensive and complicated. This was more than pointed out to the health board at the time.
“Both I and the communities in my constituency were given a guarantee that this difficulty would be resolved by provision of a bus service and it is appalling that NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde should now break that promise and hope that their pledge will have been forgotten.
“It is absolutely essential that the 340 service continues to operate and that patients and visitors can freely access the RAH by public transport.
“That is what the board promised this community and that is what the board must deliver.”
The MSP has written to the board’s Chief Executive and the Cabinet Secretary for Health demanding action to secure the service.
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