Hospital closure concerns 'without foundation'

A health board has moved to reassure the public it has no plans to close a community hospital ahead of a meeting to discuss its future.

NHS Dumfries and Galloway will meet on 24 September to examine ways to sustain services at the Galloway Community Hospital (GCH) in Stranraer.

The site has been at the centre of local concerns of potential cuts particularly after details of a £35m deficit facing the health board emerged.

However, it said that at no point in its efforts to look at the hospital's future had there been "any suggestion" of closing the site.

Ways forward for the facility will be considered at the next meeting of the region's Integration Joint Board (IJB).

Ian Carruthers, who chairs its transformation committee, said a meeting in May had shown they were "very clear" in their support for the hospital.

He said that would be reflected in any proposals put forward in September.

"Work looking at how GCH is supported is long-planned, but it appeared on our agenda at the same time as news broke of the NHS' major financial challenges," he added.

"This led to public concern which was perhaps understandable, but without foundation."

He said committee members recognised the important role the hospital - which opened in 2006 - played in meeting health needs in the area.

He stressed that they had been "unanimous" in recommending that ways be explored to support the hospital and sustain its services.

The report on the GCH had been due to go to the IJB in June but was postponed in the pre-general election period.

The health board added that it continued to meet with the Galloway Community Hospital Action Group on a regular basis to ensure information was shared in a "clear, accurate and accessible manner".