By Andrew Argo

TAYSIDE HEALTH Council yesterday hailed improvements in services for stroke and kidney patients at its last meeting.

Members were meeting in Dundee for the last time before the dissolution of the body, which acts as a voice for patients in the provision of health services.

The Scottish Executive is ending health councils because it doesn’t believe patients need an organisation to speak for them as patients should be encouraged to speak for themselves.

Although a Scottish Health Council will be formed with local advisory councils, the new structure will not continue the work of area health councils.

Health boards have been encouraged to have a strategy for patient-focused public involvement, but details of how this will operate have not been made clear.

Mrs Anne Simpson, chairing the final meeting in the Hilton Hotel, said the occasion was a sad event.

She listed a number of initiatives where she believed Tayside Health Council had campaigned and made a difference in the provision of health services. One, she said, was the establishment of a dedicated unit for stroke sufferers at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.

Previously stroke patients were treated wherever they could be accommodated in general wards and did not receive the attention that their condition merited.

The health council made representations on the issue and in November a unit catering exclusively for stroke patients was set up in hospital.

The health council took up the case of the poor conditions in the paediatric ward at Perth Royal Infirmary, and was pleased that these are now to be upgraded.

Renal patients in rural Perthshire have for years had to travel up to three times a week to Ninewells in Dundee for dialysis.

The long and arduous journey has been a major ordeal for the patients and their carers.

Tayside Health Council was among the groups to campaign for a better service, and in the next financial year NHS Tayside is to provide a satellite dialysis unit in Perth.

Through other initiatives, services in hospitals and health centres for visually-impaired people and for people with hearing difficulties have also improved.

The medical confidentiality of young people was another issue. The health council has raised the concerns of teenagers using services in close-knit communities in Angus.

Mrs Meg Barclay, health council chief officer, explained that, because of the nature of such places, young people felt reluctant to use the services in case one of their relatives was in the waiting room or a neighbour was working as a receptionist.

The health council had drawn the problem to the attention of NHS Tayside, and action is awaited.

She thanked all members of staff in the NHS in Tayside, voluntary organisations, support groups and local authorities who have helped the work of the health council since 1975.

The final meeting discussed the formal winding up of the health council and updated members on the progress of projects including community health partnerships.

Tayside Health Council is heading for a financial surplus of over £27,000, and members heard the money would be sent to the Scottish Executive.