A crunch meeting to decide the long-term future of Fife’s out of hours GP service has been shelved for a second time.
Health and social care chiefs have delayed the final decision by another month, saying they need more time to assess the information available.
They had been expected to recommend a way to keep some primary care services at St Andrews Community Hospital overnight and at weekends, while sticking to the original plan to close the Glenrothes base entirely.
The proposal was due to go before the Integration Joint Board (IJB) on Tuesday.
Campaigners in north east Fife, pushing to keep the St Andrews service, say they are frustrated by yet another delay in the process, although those in Glenrothes have seized the chance to up their bid to reverse the recommendation.
Leslie Bain, chairman of Glenrothes Area Residents Federation, claimed the health and social care partnership (HSCP) had so far failed to listen to local people’s views.
“They’re trying to cut four units down to three and want to move the Glenrothes service to Kirkcaldy,” he said.
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“We are delighted the partnership has conceded the proposals cannot go to a meeting of the IJB next week. This will hopefully give us more time to push for our arguments to be heard.”
Willie Rennie, Liberal Democrat MSP for North East Fife, called for a final decision without further delay at the end of June.
“The longer this decision takes, the greater the risk for patients in north east Fife,” he said.
“We have worked hard with the staff at the Fife Health and Social Care Partnership to develop a workable new service for north east Fife.
“It is a smart, sustainable scheme and we are ready to go.
“The new service will mean that only in exceptional circumstances would patients need to travel to Kirkcaldy.
“That would be good news for local people if only we were allowed to proceed.”
Fife HSCP director Michael Kellet said significant progress had been made on the out of hours proposal and that officers were continuing to engage with communities.
“This process…requires to be completed before the proposal can be taken to the integration joint board,” he said.
Overnight GP cover has been centralised in Kirkcaldy for more than a year after staff shortages prompted fears for patient safety.
The HSCP had recommended closing St Andrews and Glenrothes completely and housing all evening, overnight and weekend services in Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline.
More than 8,500 people objected to the move.
The decision was postponed in December after furious communities lodged participation requests to help come up with a suitable way forward, and again in April when the partnership asked for more time.
