The STOP THE DOWNGRADE Campaign response to a recent letter by SNP Councillor Peter Johnston published in the West Lothian Courier.

Friends,

Cllr. Johnston’s recent letter to the Courier is a superb exercise in spin. He is to be congratulated for trying to convince the West Lothian public (voters) that all is well with St John’s. It isn’t.

In 2003 the then Labour administration in Holyrood presided over the loss of emergency surgery and trauma orthopaedics from St John’s to the Royal Infirmary. In 2007 the SNP stood for election on a platform of returning services to St John’s and “keeping healthcare local.” They have failed on both counts. Despite being in power nationally and in West Lothian, there are no plans to return the lost emergency services to St John’s. This remains the only A&E department in Scotland without inpatient emergency surgery backup.

Cllr Johnston’s assertion that “no further services would be removed from St John’s” is rendered accurate since there are few emergency services left to go! And go they would (irrespective of the SNP) had the Royal Infirmary not been downsized by NHS Lothian so that it can’t even accommodate all its own patients.

His statement that “Labour’s policy of centralising services is dead” is simply untrue. Under the SNP, Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) services have been centralised to St John’s – a complete contradiction of their own policy.

And this is why St John’s appears busy. The car parks are full of people and relatives attending for clinics and day-case procedures such as endoscopy. This is neither emergency work as befits the St John’s of old nor the hospital which West Lothian deserves. The SNP are conspicuously avoiding the use of the word “emergency” in their letters and in their propaganda. Instead, they use the word “acute.”Care of the elderly and psychiatry can be “acute” also.

Increasing numbers of “emergency” patients, however, are taken by ambulance far from their homes to the Royal Infirmary, Wishaw and Monklands hospitals. Anywhere in fact, except St John’s. Some don’t survive the journey.

The much-vaunted Short Stay surgical unit is exactly that - a short stay unit for minor procedures which shuts at night. Meanwhile, if you break your hip in West Lothian you are driven in pain past St John’s. Meanwhile, the SNP continues in its failure to deliver its 2007 election promises.

The millions being spent on the infrastructure at St John’s has not been brought about by SNP pressure. Rather, it is a belated response by NHS Lothian to try and correct years of underinvestment in the hospital clearly shown by potholed roads, leaking windows and holes in ceilings letting in water to be collected by buckets in the corridors.

Cllr Johnston talks of additional Consultants being appointed at St John’s but he fails to mention that far, far more have been appointed at Edinburgh hospitals. In many specialities St John’s is woefully under-resourced compared to Edinburgh. He mentions cardiology and manages to get his facts completely wrong. There is no additional consultant routinely working weekdays. This was promised in 2009 but never delivered.

So, a word of advice for Cllr Johnston. It is never too late to say “Sorry” for misleading the West Lothian people. Broken promises are not unusual for politicians. Neither are untruths.

Secretary

SDC Team