Crowds Fight for Hospital

TEN thousand protestors turned out yesterday in a mass demo at Vale of Leven Hospital.

Gathered around the hospital in Alexandria, Dunbartonshire, the crowd was protesting at a scaling back of services set to take place before the year’s end.

Jim Moohan, chairman of campaign group Hospital Watch, said the cuts would harm patients.

Vale of Leven maternity unit closed in October 2002 and its accident and emergency unit was shut down two months later.

Health chiefs said in May that they wanted to scale back emergency and other hospital services.

They recommended that emergency patients go in future to Paisley’s Royal Alexandra Hospital.

But in July, new SNP Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon put the plans on hold and announced an independent review of services at Vale of Leven which is due to be completed by November.

The hospital cut-backs had been initially prompted by a pounds 42million budget overspend.

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