Helensburgh and Lomond’s MSP has written to the new top official at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to demand that local services, including the Medical Assessment Unit at the Vale of Leven Hospital, are protected.

Jane Grant is the new chief executive of the health board and she took over the post at the weekend following Robert Calderwood’s retirement after eight years in the role.

Jackie Baillie said the appointment should be used as an opportunity to press the reset button on plans to cut services at the Vale of Leven Hospital and urged Ms Grant to pledge to protect local NHS services.

The Scottish Labour MSP also called on Ms Grant to ensure that any proposals to close the Vale of Leven Hospital’s Medical Assessment Unit are ruled out taken off the table.

Ms Baillie grilled First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on the future of the unit at First Minister’s Questions in February after an unpublished health board report contained proposals to have “fewer unscheduled care and admissions points” across Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Health secretary Shona Robison later confirmed in a written response to Ms Baillie that the Vale of Leven Hospital’s Medical Assessment Unit is one of five such departments across the region.

The other four are based at Inverclyde, the Royal Infirmary, Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and the RAH in Paisley.

Ms Baillie said: “I have congratulated Jane Grant on her appointment and look forward to meeting her as soon as possible to stress the importance of protecting services at the Vale of Leven Hospital to people in our local community.

“The health board and the Scottish Government should use this opportunity to press the reset button on the damaging cuts agenda which has undermined the Vale of Leven Hospital in recent years.

"It’s time for a fresh start and the new chief executive could earn back some of the trust of local people by throwing out all current service change proposals and reviews, including the plans to cut the maternity service and the GP out of hours service.

“The immediate priority should be a commitment that any proposals to close the Vale’s Medical Assessment Unit will be taken off the table.

"The direction of travel outlined in the unpublished board report of fewer admission sites and centralising acute services in Glasgow and Paisley would be the most radical shake-up of services our NHS has seen in a generation.

“While SNP Ministers and health board officials have tried to distance themselves from the report, we need a cast-iron guarantee that the Medical Assessment Unit will remain at the Vale.”

* Meanwhile, eight patients were forced to have operations cancelled at the Vale of Leven Hospital – after the heating went on the blink.

News of this latest setback comes on the back of the hospital’s GP out-of-hours service being suspended for four weekends in a row, causing patients to make the journey across to Paisley to access services at the RAH, in Paisley.

There is also speculation that the out-of-hours service could be dramatically reduced. meaning patients could only access it at, ironically, weekends.

A report, which went to a Health and Social Care Partnership meeting recently revealed a preferred option to shut the out-of-hours service midweek due to mounting staff and funding pressures.

There are also question marks over the hospital’s Community Maternity Unit (CMU) which is being proposed for closure.

Addressing the latest controversy over the faulting heating, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde released a statement which read: “Yesterday (Tuesday) a heating pump failure in the Vale of Leven Hospital theatres department resulted in the unfortunate cancellation of surgery for eight patients.

“The low temperature would have caused a safety concern for these patients should their surgery have continued. The eight patients are currently having their procedures rescheduled.

“Repairs were carried out and the service was back to normal yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon.”

However, MSP Jackie Baillie said: “We need to have more operations scheduled at the Vale of Leven Hospital, not less, so it is very disappointing to hear about procedures being cancelled due to a faulty heating system.

“Patients need to plan time off work for an operation so this will have caused a great deal of inconvenience for those affected.

"The Vale of Leven Hospital clearly needs more capital investment to upgrade the facilities and the fabric of the building before anything like this happens again.”

HospitalWatch chairman Jim Moohan added: “For a number of years we have been talking about infrastructure and investment (at the hospital) but to not have a back-up system at the hospital is a disgrace.

“This is something that’s been building up for a while and we want answers.”