Dunfermline’s 60,000 residents are in danger of being left with a “ghost hospital” with the loss of several services, a councillor has claimed.
The hospice at Queen Margaret Hospital is earmarked for permanent closure under plans unveiled by health chiefs this month.
But Aude Boubaker-Calder said the move followed the demise of several other essential departments at the Dunfermline hospital, including the heamatology unit, accident and emergency and maternity services.
All are now based at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.
The Liberal Democrat councillor was speaking during a debate on the future of the hospice during a full Fife Council meeting this week.
Members agreed to take their concerns to NHS Fife.
And they called for the hospice decision to be put on hold until the public is consulted.
Ms Boubaker-Calder said: “Dunfermline has 60,000 residents and is still growing.
“Yet we are facing a ghost hospital with more and more empty rooms at Queen Margaret.
“It’s now time for action. Enough is enough.”
Removal of patient choice
Almost 2,300 people have signed a petition against the Queen Margaret Hospice closure.
The move is expected to be rubber stamped by the Fife Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) and NHS Fife later this month.
They say they want to expand the end-of-life-care on offer in the region.
And this means a move to a singe hospice in Kirkcaldy, palliative care beds at five community hospitals and more care for people in their own homes.
Doctors say the new service will allow them to care for 60 patients at once, rather than 19 under the previous set-up.
However, critics claim it is a removal of patient choice and will place additional burden and stress on families.
The move follows the haematology service’s return to Kirkcaldy after being based in Dunfermline during the Covid pandemic.
Accident and emergency was centralised in Kirkcaldy in 2012, and maternity services in 1993.
Letter to health secretary on Fife hospital staffing
Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors presented a joint motion.
All praised staff for their efforts to extend home-based palliative care.
But they agreed it should be an alternative to rather than a replacement for the hospice.
They invited members of the HSCP integrated joint board to consider community concerns when making a decision on the hospice’s future.
And they agreed to write to the health secretary Michael Matheson to ask about the future staffing of Fife’s health services.
Fife hospice closure decision ‘should not be made before public consulted’
Labour councillor Gordon Pryde said: “NHS Fife says the proposal for the hospice follows extensive public consultation and engagement.
“It now transpires this amounted to three online engagement sessions via various video conferencing platforms with invited groups.
“Until such time as there has been a full public consultation on this most important of issues, no decision should be made as to its permanent closure.
“And steps should be taken to allow for its reopening.”
Conversation