‘Misleading’ Minister apologises

Aug 29 2008 by Our Correspondent, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

MINISTER for Public Health Shona Robison has been forced to apologise for providing a misleading answer to a Parliamentary Question (PQ) lodged by MSP Murdo Fraser.

The questions related to the issue of the out-of-hours GP service in Kinloch Rannoch, which was the subject of a packed public meeting held recently in the village.

Murdo lodged several PQs which related to the vacancy created by the retiral of the previous GP, and how NHS Tayside dealt with the issue of out-of-hours cover when appointing his successor.

It was only revealed that an answer to one of the PQs contained misleading information after a Rannoch resident requested information from NHS Tayside under the Freedom of Information Act.

In a letter to Murdo sent on August 22, the Minister stated: “I understand that information issued by NHS Tayside under FOI was not consistent with the answer to Parliamentary Question S3W-14681.

“Specifically, in the FOI response, NHS Tayside have confirmed that a bidder to provide GP services at Kinloch Rannoch did include out-of-hours cover in their proposals but this was mentioned in the answer to the PQ.

“I have therefore asked my officials to look again at this issue. I can now confirm that a bidder to provide primary medical services to Kinloch Rannoch offered a limited out-of-hours service.

“My officials judged that this was not a comprehensive out-of-hours service and did not need to be recorded in the Parliamentary Answer.

“This was a genuine error of judgement based on limited information and a misunderstanding at the time of answering the PQ.

“However, I accept that the answer to the PQ was nevertheless misleading and apologise for this situation.”

Mr Fraser said: “I am pleased that the Minister has acted quickly to rectify her mistake, but this should not have happened in the first place.

“The important thing now is that out-of-hours GP cover in Kinloch Rannoch is restored. I know that locals believe that lives may be at risk due to the changed arrangements and the losing of out-of-hours GP cover is a dilution in health service.

“I will continue to work with the local community, the new GP practice and NHS Tayside so that the people of Kinloch Rannoch have a health service that reflects their community’s needs.

“The SNP Government was able to intervene and reverse closure of A&E Departments so it is also able to intervene and reverse the decision to end the out of hours GP cover in Kinloch Rannoch.

“I supported the reversing of A&E Department closures and I urge the SNP Government to do likewise with out of hours cover and restore it in Kinloch Rannoch.”