Worries have been raised about the future of the emergency surgery unit at Perth Royal Infirmary.
Local politician Liz Smith has written to Scotland’s health minister to get assurances after new figures revealed the number of emergency procedures carried out at the hospital has fallen year on year.
Last year just 1,732 urgent operations took place at the unit the lowest amount since 2006.
The worries come after the Courier revealed at the weekend how workers at the hospital are worried over staffing numbers and low morale.
Ms Smith, Tory MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, was outspoken in 2010 when NHS Tayside axed weekend emergency surgery at the infirmary.
Admissions between 6pm on Friday and 8am on Monday are now taken to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
At the time the health board blamed the move on staff shortages, but assured the public the service would not be removed completely.
Associate medical director Dr John Colvin reaffirmed NHS Tayside’s commitment last night, saying: ”Our priority is to ensure people in Perth and Kinross have access to a safe level of surgical services at all times.
”We are committed to maintaining and strengthening a viable in-patient surgical service at Perth Royal Infirmary. Patients should be assured the service at the infirmary has and will continue to have 24-hour consultant surgical cover.”
However, Ms Smith wants to hear directly from Nicola Sturgeon.
She said: ”The latest figures show the number of emergency procedures carried out at the infirmary had fallen to its lowest level since 2006.
”I have raised concerns in the past that emergency surgery has been reduced significantly at Perth Royal Infirmary and a number of constituents have told me of difficult situations when they have had to be transferred to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
”It is particularly important to provide adequate cover for rural communities, many of which have already seen reductions in ambulance services and GP cover.”
On Saturday, an anonymous letter from staff at the hospital to the Courier said a low nurse to patient ratio was ”unacceptable and dangerous”.
It also said the ongoing problem had a knock-on effect of ”low staff morale, including anxiety, depression and stress”.