31st May 2010
Unaccountable, Unelected and Under Fire
West Lothian Councillors were left wondering last week what they have to do to persuade Lothian Health Board that it has any accountability to the people of West Lothian. The Health Board's Chairman and the other Health Board members of the St. John's Hospital Stakeholders Group failed to turn up at the scheduled meeting of the group on 12th. May, meaning the meeting was inquorate, and had to be cancelled.
What is surprising is that the regular meeting schedule was changed at the April meeting of the group, specifically to suit the needs of the Health Board representatives. Not only were the normal members unable to attend, but from all the highly paid executives, and more modestly paid non-execs, no substitutes could be found either. You really couldn't make it up!
This isn't the first time that representatives from NHS Lothian have caused the meeting to be cancelled causing great inconvenience not only to the other participants, but also to the members of the SDC who, whether hampered by ill-health or the onset of years, never fail to attend the meetings. In fact, for months they haven't even presented reports and papers to the group to agreed schedules. But then what do we know? We are just the public they have taken liberties with for years!
To think that these are the self same people who had the effrontery to lecture our Councillors about their so-called "behaviours", causing the group to be suspended in its infancy, when they spat the dummy out of the pram because at last they had people elected who would stand up to them. This group was set up under the auspices of the Cabinet Secretary. For senior members of NHS Lothian Board to thumb their noses at us is one thing: to do it to Nicola Sturgeon is quite another, and it is high time the SNP took these people and gave them a good shake.
We fielded six candidates for the Council elections in 2007 and got three elected. Not a bad success rate for a first attempt at elections. We also fielded a candidate for the Scottish Parliamentary Elections that year, when Ernie Walker, despite worsening health, agreed to fight for the people of West Lothian. He may not have succeeded in getting elected, but in splitting the vote, he certainly changed the outcome in West Lothian. Had Angela Constance MSP not benefited from Ernie's tenacity, much to the chagrin of the former incumbent, Labour's Bristow Muldoon, where would their minority administration in Holyrood be now?
As we look forward to the Scottish Parliamentary Elections next year, we are considering fielding candidates in the West Lothian Constituencies. We can't predict the outcome when you look at the recent Westminster results, but we have proved we can shape the political landscape.
Next time the SNP might not be so fortunate.
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