Campaigners fear the GP out-of-hours service in St Andrew is being set up to fail.
Fife Health and Social Care Partnership (FHSCP) has been accused of dangerously watering down promises in reinstating the service.
A group representing community councils across north-east Fife alleges three-hour shifts on weekday evenings will be so difficult to fill, the service may prove unviable.
It also says the partnership intends to close the unit two hours earlier than agreed on Saturdays and will relocate its car for home visits to Kirkcaldy after an initial period at St Andrews Community Hospital.
Furthermore, there would be GP cover for only six hours on Saturdays and Sundays, when the unit is open for 14 hours and 12 hours, respectively.
The Out Of Hours Group, established by St Andrews Community Council, said nurses were anxious about working extended periods without a GP on site.
Dr Angela Anderson, group chairwoman, said: “We are afraid the partnership is setting up the new service to fail.”
She said the partnership had pledged to continue discussions with the group to help it develop, refine and implement the revised model.
However, she added: “In practice, the partnership has progressed plans without consulting with us in any meaningful way and has continued to ignore the voices of those working in the Out Of Hours service at St Andrews.”
East Neuk and Landward Liberal Democrat councillor Bill Porteous said: “If the staffing shift periods are wrong then obtaining GPs and senior nurses could be very difficult.
“As we enter September the FHSCP must inform the public of how many nurses and GPs have signed up to the revised structure starting in December.”
Conservative councillor for the area Linda Holt, accused the partnership of going back on its word and said: “Staff, patients and communities are losing trust in the partnership and it is high time the IJB got a grip.”
Fife’s out-of-hours GP service was centralised in Kirkcaldy last year as a contingency measure, due to staff shortages.
The partnership said its board approved the new model for out-of-hours urgent care in June following extensive consultation and engagement, using detailed data and clinical evidence.
Nicky Connor, interim director, said implementation was being undertaken with full involvement of staff and union representatives to ensure the model was safe and sustainable.
She said: “The IJB recognises the value of ongoing engagement to support the implementation and we continue to work with representative groups of the communities most affected through the consultation phase and with the wider community to improve our communications so the people of Fife know who to turn to during the out-of-hours period.”
Ms Connor also said it had been agreed the Fife-wide home visiting model would see car-based clinicians congregate at Victoria Hospital when there were no visits to be made.
She said: “Throughout the current contingency there has been no difficulty providing home visits and cars are safely deployed to support people across Fife.
“Again we will work flexibly with colleagues, with cars commencing in localities to reduce colleagues’ commuting time to a central base.”
