This week's Councillor Column comes from Lomond North independent councillor George Freeman.

* * * * * * * * * *

As part of the changes to health and social care services across Scotland, readers will be aware of the formation of the Integrated Joint Board of the new Health & Social Care Partnership, although they may not be aware of the services the Partnership has taken on.

Along with their responsibility for health services, Council services that have now been transferred to the Partnership include children and family services, fostering, adoption, criminal justice, adult care, learning disability, older people’s services including care homes and day care facilities to list just a few.

Unfortunately, although the chair of the IJB is currently a councillor and it has three other councillors as members, the IJB is totally non-democratic as the four councillors are far outnumbered by the large number of other unelected members on the IJB.

Some of the recent decisions of the IJB have started to raise serious concerns with many councillors and the public that the IJB is now on a service-cutting/cost-cutting exercise to reduce budgets. We have been told that there will be fewer hospital beds and now see proposals to close important care/day care facilities within our communities.

Even more concerning is that councillors have been told by the chief officer of the Partnership that through “mergers and federations, there will be fewer GP practices”.

She tries to justify these cuts by saying that “this will provide a greater choice for patients – e.g. a male or female doctor and offer you a range of GP’s and nurses with special interests and training”.

The public will not accept losing their local GP practice, even if that allows them the choice between a male and female doctor, especially if they may then have to travel 10 to 20 miles to access that service.

These non-democratic decisions may just be the tip of the iceberg and should be of serious concern to the public.

Elsewhere, at a time when the public see council services continuing to be cut, it is difficult to see how it can justify trips to Bavaria for eight individuals, as recently reported in the Advertiser.

This is not new. Council links with Bavaria have been in place for eight years now yet I am not aware of any decisions taken over that time that has provided any ongoing benefit for Argyll and Bute.

It is now time to cut out these jollies.