PEOPLE in Helensburgh have been urged to show their concern at cuts to services at the Vale of Leven Hospital at a public meeting in the town next week.

The meeting, at Helensburgh and Lomond Parish Church, has been organised in the wake of proposed cuts to the GP out-of-hours service at the hospital.

A similar meeting, held on Monday in Alexandria Community Centre, saw around 300 people attend to express their concern.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is proposing to close the service at the Vale on weekday evenings, forcing local patients to travel to Paisley for emergency GP appointments.

Helensburgh's MSP, Jackie Baillie, has worked with the Hospitalwatch campaign group to organise the meeting, giving local residents a chance to speak out in public against the proposed cuts.

The meeting takes place in the small hall at the church in Colquhoun Square this Monday, July 3, at 7.30pm.

The proposal - following months of sporadic closures of the service at the Vale due to a shortage of GPs - has been criticised by local doctors, who say it would constitute an "unacceptable clinical risk" to patients in Helensburgh and Lomond.

Ms Baillie said: “People across Dumbarton, Vale of Leven, Helensburgh and Lomond are rightly concerned about the proposals to centralise GP out-of-hours services in Paisley during the week.

"Local GPs have already condemned the move as an ‘unacceptable clinical risk’ and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde must listen to them.

“Given the complete lack of public consultation so far, I hope these public meetings will give the local community the chance to come together and oppose this latest threat to services at the Vale of Leven Hospital."

Jim Moohan, Chair of the Hospitalwatch campaign, said:“This is a really important meeting and the fact that GPs are now becoming directly involved to support the campaign is quite significant.

"The health board and the Health Secretary have ignored the local community in the past but they cannot ignore the voice of local doctors.

"I hope as many people as possible will come along to the meetings to support our local GPs and stand up for the services at the Vale of Leven Hospital.”

Argyll and Bute Council leader, Aileen Morton, said: "I will be at the meeting in Helensburgh on Monday evening and expect to see many people in attendance as it is clear that there are real concerns about the proposals.

"The service at the Vale is much-valued and I welcome the involvement of local GPs at the public meetings."

A spokesman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: "We understand the concerns of local people on the challenges of staffing the Vale of Leven GP Out of Hours service and are working hard to sustain this service.

"However, the reality is that the Out of Hours Service across Greater Glasgow and Clyde – and indeed across many parts of Scotland - is facing significant challenges in finding enough GPs willing to staff the service.

"On the occasions when there are not enough GPs to cover all our eight centres, we move available GPs from site to site to ensure we provide the best service we can for patients.

"In the face of these ongoing pressures the health board and our six health and social care partnerships are reviewing how best to deliver a consistent GP Out of Hours service.

"The review is part of a wider discussion on how to enhance the overall out-of-hours health and social care services for all our patients."

West Dunbartonshire Health and Social Care Partnership’s Chief Officer, Keith Redpath, said: “I want to assure our local communities that, along with colleagues at the health board, we are working hard to deliver the best GP Out of Hours service we can to the patients we serve.”

Those interested in attending Monday's meeting do not need to register in advance, but Ms Baillie has asked that people who know they are going call her office on 01389 734214 or email jonathan.mcaveety@parliament.scot to help them plan the event.