THIS week's Community Column is written by Helensburgh's constituency MSP, Labour's Jackie Baillie.

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I RECENTLY organised a meeting with representatives from Cardross Community Council and the managing director of Abellio ScotRail after receiving an unprecedented number of complaints from Helensburgh and Lomond commuters.

The timetable changes were top of the agenda and we left ScotRail in no doubt about the impact that cutting express services has had on local people who travel to work in Glasgow. I am pleased that following our representations Abellio ScotRail has agreed to reintroduce a morning peak-time service but there remains much more work to be done.

I also asked Abellio ScotRail to look at the scheduling of return trains from Glasgow in the evening and to end the practice of station skipping, when drivers miss out some local stations when trains are running late. The partial restoration of the cancelled express service is a good start, and it shows that ScotRail is listening, but I will keep pressing for action until local passengers get the high standard of service they deserve.

Save our local NHS: This week in parliament also saw the first statement by the Health Secretary Shona Robison since the SNP were defeated on proposals to cut NHS services in Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

While she promised to step in and make the final call on downgrading the children’s ward at the RAH, she is still refusing to say whether she will use her powers to block the closure of the birthing unit at the Vale of Leven Hospital. This is simply not good enough. We cannot have one rule for the RAH and another for the Vale. If the SNP step back and let the health board do what it wants then there will be no more babies born at the Vale. It would betray the promises made to local people in the Vision for the Vale and more recently at the election.

In recent months local campaigners have marched in the streets and collected thousands of signatures for a petition to protect our local health services. Now I am organising a public meeting so that local people can have their say on the cuts at the Vale. I have invited representatives from the health board, Hospitalwatch campaigners and other elected representatives so that a wide range of views can be heard and everyone is welcome. The meeting will take place at 7pm on Monday, November 28 in the Concord Centre, St Mary’s Way, Dumbarton.