THIS week's Community Column is written by Helensburgh and Lomond's MSP, Jackie Baillie.

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The deeply cynical actions of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde never cease to amaze me.

This week I learnt that they are kicking any discussion about our maternity services into the long grass, until after the May election.

Remember this time last year? That was before the Scottish Parliament elections, when the health board and SNP Ministers said I was scaremongering about proposals to close the maternity service.

Then immediately after the polls had closed, out came the proposals to close the maternity unit, that they had said didn’t exist.

And when I asked the Minister this week to rule out the closure, once and for all, she failed to give any guarantee.

Well local people won’t be fooled twice. I am sure that the SNP will rush to the press to say I am scaremongering again. So be it. I will always stand up for the Vale, irrespective of who is in power.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde will soon be drawing up a hit list of cuts across the region and we need to remain vigilant to understand the consequences for the Vale of Leven Hospital.

Earlier this month we heard about proposals to make £333 million of cuts and centralise inpatient hospital services at the RAH and two hospitals in Glasgow. These are the discussions happening right now behind the scenes between health board officials and the Scottish Government.

The first warning shots have also been fired on the future of the GP Out of Hours service.

It was a huge concern to see local patients being told to travel to the RAH in Paisley three weekends in a row because they do not have enough staff to cover the Vale on a Sunday.

The health board has now confirmed that it is reviewing the service but they have not ruled out cutting the opening hours. This is worrying for a number of reasons.

Out of Hours GPs are not a specialist service like heart surgery.

It provides round-the-clock emergency primary care services for local patients in the evenings and weekends when GP surgeries are closed.

This is a basic but vital component of any local hospital and was a key promise in the Vale Vision.

Travelling to Paisley is an inconvenience for most of us but if you rely on public transport, as a lot of people in our area do, it is extremely difficult in the evenings and weekends.

I will continue to stand alongside local campaigners to protect the interests of local patients and the Vale of Leven Hospital.